


Honor Amongst Thieves

by hobbitsizedwhovian



Series: Tales of a King [2]
Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Angst, Blood and Injury, Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Sarcasm, Treasure Hunting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 40,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27106621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hobbitsizedwhovian/pseuds/hobbitsizedwhovian
Summary: It's been two years since their last adventure and Alex and Nate are at it again. This time, they're on the road to Shambhala. When Chloe, Nate's ex steps back into ther lives, Alex's friendship with Nate will be tested.
Relationships: Nathan Drake & Elena Fisher, Nathan Drake & Victor Sullivan, Nathan Drake/Chloe Frazer, Nathan Drake/Original Character(s), Nathan Drake/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Tales of a King [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1734403
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. New Job

**Author's Note:**

> I finally finished writing the second story in the series! This one will be longer, so I hope ya'll are ready!  
> Ps. I use Google translate for the Italian bits, so please forgive me if anything is translated wrong.

**Present Time**

I awoke with a groan, lifting a hand to clutch my throbbing head. Opening my eyes, I frowned in confusion. I was in a train that, after glancing around, appeared to be hanging off a cliff. Before I could investigate further, a groan next to me drew my attention.

“Nate!” I gasped, quickly but carefully shifting my position to examine him. He looked as bad as I felt. He had numerous cuts and scrapes covering his arms and face, thankfully nothing life threatening. He opened his eyes blearily, copying my action of clutching his head. His somewhat unfocused gaze met my concerned one.

“Alex? What’s going on…?” Before I could answer, he let out a loud, pained groan, clutching at his side. I looked down and gasped in horror. The left side of his shirt was soaked with blood. Nate held up a blood covered hand, inspecting it briefly. “That’s my blood… That’s my blood, that’s a lot of my blood…” He breathed, resting his head back against the seat. He looked out the window beside us, frowning as he spotted the snowy cliff our train car was dangling over so precariously. “What…?” He glanced back at me, but I shrugged, just as clueless as he was. We were both startled as a wooden crate smashed right next to us. “Oh God,” he gasped as an oil drum followed the crate. The chair we were sitting on broke, forcing Nate and I to make a jump for it, grabbing the seat in front of us. With his blood covered hands, Nate couldn’t keep his grip and slipped.

“Nate!” I cried, quickly snatching his hand, but the adjusted weight was too much for the seat to bear and it too broke, sending the two of us falling out the back of the train car. Luckily, we were both able to grab hold of the guard rail before we plummeted to our deaths.

“Oh, crap,” Nate whimpered as we dangled hundreds of feet in the air.

“Come on, Nate,” I urged. “We have to climb.” He nodded and followed as I began to cautiously slide my way across the guard rail, doing my best to ignore the biting cold. We slowly made our way up the train’s chassis. A boulder fell from the cliff, nearly knocking Nate loose. “You okay?” Nate nodded in response and kept climbing. I started my way up a pole, but unfortunately, it didn’t take Nate’s weight, breaking at a joint under me. He yelped as the pole bent and swung to the side, slamming into the side of the train. “Nate!”

“I’m okay,” he assured me. “Keep going!” I continued my way up, assuming he was finding another way. Sure enough, as I neared the top of the train, he smashed through a window next to me, causing me to scream in surprise and very nearly lose my grip. “Sorry,” he groaned in apology, climbing onto a pole under me. The train suddenly shifted, sliding a few feet further off the cliff. I reached the top just as the pole detached.

“Nate!” I crouched and held out my hand. Nate jumped and caught my hand and I hauled him up with a grunt. We climbed into the next car sitting on the edge of the cliff. The car shifted, and we glanced at each other. We bolted through the train car, jumping just as the car toppled over the side of the cliff. I pulled myself up then turned to pull Nate up. He rolled onto his side, breathing heavily and closing his eyes as he passed out. I knelt on the ground next to him, shaking him desperately. “Nate! Nathan!”

**Flashback**

Nate and I were at a beach bar, the ocean crashing onto the sand behind us. Nate took a swig from his beer as I swirled my soda around my glass. A man walked up and leaned on the bar next to Nate.

“Buy me a drink, sailor?” The man asked in a smooth British accent. Nate turned, his eyes widening in recognition.

“Harry Flynn?! Hey!” Nate grinned.

“Hey!” The two men embraced each other as I watched, taking a sip from my drink. The Brit turned to me. “And, Alex, still hanging around with this joker?”

I laughed. “Can’t seem to get rid of him.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Nate inquired curiously.

“I’m looking for you two, mate,” Flynn replied. I raised a brow in curiosity.

Nate chuckled. “Uh-oh. Should we be flattered, or worried?”

Flynn grinned. “Maybe a bit of both. C’mere -” He grabbed Nate’s beer from the bar and set it on a nearby table. I followed the two men “I’ve got a job for us.”

“Really?” Nate asked.

“A client is willing to part with a huge sum of cash if we ‘acquire’ a certain object for him.” Nate and I exchanged glances. There was money involved and apparently a lot of it, sounded worth hearing out.

“All right, I’m listening.”

“Now - you’re not gonna like this.” Flynn set a pamphlet for the Istanbul Palace Museum on the table. I glanced at the pamphlet and scoffed. This guy was out of his mind if he thought we were going there.

“Oh, no,” Nate said, shoving the pamphlet away. “No, you’re out of your mind.”

Flynn held up a placating hand. “Yeah, just - hear me out for a sec -”

“Flynn, we both know two people who were killed trying to lift something outta this place.”

“And one who made it out,” Flynn added.

Nate scoffed. “Yeah, barely.”

“I can’t do this without you, Drake,” Flynn pleaded. “You’re the only one who’s cracked it. And you know better than anyone, it’s a two-person job.”

“No, no, no - four-person actually,” Nate corrected.

“Right, well we have a third here,” Flynn said, gesturing to me. “And as for the fourth, speak of the devil - here she comes now.” I glanced at Nate and found he mirrored my look of confusion. We both turned as another woman walked over and my expression hardened.

“Wh -?”

“Chloe Frazer,” Chloe introduced, cutting Nate off and holding out her hand.

“Nate. Drake. Nathan Drake,” Nate said, shaking her hand.

“Alex King,” I said flatly, not bothering to shake her hand as I took another sip of my drink. Chloe didn’t seem bothered by my cold tone as she walked around Flynn, lightly brushing a hand along his neck.

“Hello, Harry,” she greeted in a flirtatious tone. I raised a brow at the display, but said nothing.

“Chloe here’s one of the best drivers in the business - she’ll take good care of us,” Flynn assured us.

“I bet,” I scoffed, eyeing her suspiciously. I had been hoping I had seen the last of her, but it looked like fate had other plans. Surprisingly, Flynn didn’t seem to notice my sudden stiff attitude and continued explaining his plan.

“All right, look - I’ve got it all figured out.” Flynn opened the pamphlet and pointed to a particular part. “We go in through the sewer -”

“Loving it so far,” Nate quipped.

Flynn ignored him and continued. “That puts us in the courtyard. From there we scale up the wall, run across the rooftops, and just drop down into the exhibit hall. Bob’s your uncle. And what is worth all this trouble, I hear you ask…?”

“I didn’t, but go ahead.” Flynn turned another page in the pamphlet and pointed to a jade colored lamp circled in red pen. Nate picked it up and inspected it. “That’s it? An oil lamp?”

Flynn passed him a postcard with more information on the lamp. “Yeah.”

“It’s worthless. I don’t get it.” I reached forward and picked up the postcard.

“Neither do we,” Chloe admitted. “That’s why we tracked you down.”

“Well, it sounds like you’re working for a nutcase,” Nate summarized and I had to agree. While it was a beautiful lamp, covered in what appeared to be Mongolian script, it was nowhere near worth the amount of effort it would take to acquire it. “Some collector who’s got too much time and money on his hands. And by the way, this” -Nate took the postcard from me and tossed it back on the table- “is not work any of it.” I shot him a glare.

Flynn grinned knowingly. “But there’s more…” Nate paused curiously, beer halfway to his mouth. “How’s your 13th-century Latin, mate?” He handed Nate another piece of paper with a paragraph written in Latin.

“Where’d you get this?” Nate asked as I leaned in for a closer look.

“Borrowed it from the files of the nutcase,” Flynn answered, leaning back in his chair and smirking.

“In Trebizond we were set upon by thieves,” Nate read. “Father, Maffeo, and I were robbed of our greatest treasures…” He stopped and looked up, an excited grin spreading across his face. “This was written by Marco Polo.”

Chloe nodded, unimpressed. “Yes, that much we were able to work out.”

“Unfortunately, the rest of it’s nonsense,” Flynn admitted.

“Wait, hold on… ‘So that it should not fall into the wrong hands, I concealed my great sorrow in the unlikeliest place. The light of the Great Khan shelters the fate of the thirteen.’” Nate glanced at me, mirroring my growing excitement.

“No way,” I whispered, grabbing the letter from Nate and re-reading it. “Non può essere.” (It can’t be.)

“See what I mean? It’s just gibberish,” Flynn said.

Chloe leaned forward in her seat, grinning excitedly. “He’s talking about the lost fleet.”

Nate nodded. “Yeah…”

Flynn looked between the three of us, clearly confused. “Hello, someone want to fill me in?”

“Marco Polo leaves China with 600 passengers and fourteen ships, loaded down with treasure from Kublai Khan,” Nate explained. “Now, he lands in Persian a year and a half later with only one ship left, and only eighteen passengers. Now he recorded every detail of his journey but he never told what happened to all those ships, and the passengers.”

“So - so, somewhere out there - there are thirteen ships, loaded with the emperor’s treasure, waiting to be found,” Chloe said, pointing to the map.

“Yeah, and that is what your client is after,” Nate finished.

I picked up the postcard of the lamp and examined it further. “I bet you this was a gift from Kublai Khan. This is Mongolian script.”

“The light of the Great Khan -” Flynn began.

“...shelters the fate of the thirteen,” he and Chloe finished together.

“Marco Polo hid something inside this lamp,” Nate said. “Something that pinpoints the site of the lost fleet.” He leaned back in his chair with an air of finality.

“So… we’re dicking this guy over, right?” Chloe inquired.

“Damn straight!”

“Absolutely!” Flynn agreed. He stood and Chloe followed suit. “You in, then?”

Nate smiled and stood. “What the hell. What could possibly go wrong?”

I chuckled and shook my head, standing as well. “Oh, I think I could think of a few things, but then again, what would be the fun if a job went exactly as planned?” We clinked our glasses and drank, looking forward to the job ahead.

**Flashback End**


	2. In Like Flynn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is here! Hope you Enjoy!

**Flashback 2**

I poured over the notes I had made. Nate hadn't been kidding, this museum was going to be tough to get into, not impossible, but probably the hardest place we've ever had to infiltrate. I sighed and ran a hand through my black hair. I had most of the area and guards' patrols mapped out, but I was having some trouble. I was going to need Nate's help. I left my hotel room and walked down the hall to Nate's, still going over my notes.

"Hey, Nate, can -" I froze in the doorway, my hand still on the handle. Nate was lying on his bed, Chloe straddling his waist. Nate's head snapped around as he stared at me with wide eyes while Chloe gave me a look of irritation. I quickly schooled my features to one of indifference. "Oh, scusa, I didn't realize you two were busy. Nevermind then, I'll go ask Flynn for help. Please, carry on." I narrowed my eyes slightly. "Might want to try locking the door next time." I quickly backed out of the room, slamming the door after me and ignoring Nate calling my name. I ran back to my room and closed the door, leaning my back against it. I scoffed and bit my lip, cursing myself at my stupidity. My naive self thought I had a chance with Nathan Drake. In my defense, ever since our little El Dorado quest, there had been a shift in our relationship. To anyone else, it would seem like nothing, but it was obvious to someone who knew Nate as well as I did. Now, Nate had always been touchy-feely with me, that was nothing new. But the chaste kisses he would press to my forehead when I solved a particularly hard puzzle lingered just a bit longer. He would sometimes even kiss my cheek simply for giving him his morning coffee. Previously it wasn't uncommon for him to check in on what I was working on, often leaning in at uncomfortably close proximity, occasionally slinging an arm around my shoulder and tucking me into his side, only to laugh and jerk away when I poked him for invading my personal space. Over the last two years that evolved into him stepping up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist, sometimes resting his head on my shoulder as he listened to me explain. It never bothered me. Being around him since we were teenagers, I had long grown used to his antics. If I was to be honest, it was a nice change. It was like we were in an actual relationship, if unspoken. Since Elena's comment to me about Nate's possible feelings, there has been this question at the back of my mind. In all our years together, did he truly still see me as only a friend? Unfortunately, I was too afraid to clarify where we stood for fear of losing what I already had. I sighed sadly, closing my eyes and shaking my head. Though I gave the impression that catching them in a compromising position hadn't bothered me, my heart had given a painful pang at the sight. If I had ever had a chance with Nate before, it was gone now that Chloe was back. While she was definitely near the bottom of my list of women Nate has had flings with/dated in the past, she was certainly the most persistent. I had been stupid enough to get my hopes up in believing we could be more than just friends. We were best friends and it looked like that's how things were going to stay. I walked over and flopped down on my bed. Maybe a few hours of sleep would help.

**End Flashback**

I opened my eyes, wincing as I got up. Nate groaned in pain beside me.

"You okay?" I asked as I helped him up. I glanced at his wound and winced. The blood had spread and he looked practically dead on his feet. I was really getting worried about him.

"I'm okay," he assured me, though he sounded far from convincing. "What about you?" He reached a hand to my forehead and I winced. I touched my fingers to my forehead and came away with blood.

I waved it away. "Nothing that won't heal. But we need to keep moving." We jumped into the next car and made our way out into the blizzard. We trudged through the snow, Nate holding tightly to his injured side. He finally fell to his knees, picking up something buried in the snow. I sat next to him, leaning against another train car as we both stared at a familiar dagger.

**Istanbul Four Months Earlier**

My black hair whipped about my face as the four of us rode in a dinghy, now all dressed in black to help disguise us in the dark. I fiddled absentmindedly with my parents' rings as we zipped through the water.

"You sure you're up for this?" Nate asked Flynn.

"Feel a lot better if I had a gun," Flynn replied.

"We won't need 'em." While I agreed with Nate, I was feeling naked without my gun. Thankfully, I still had my knife securely tucked into its sheath.

"A little insurance, that's all."

"Oh relax, ya big baby," I scolded, a little more firmly than I normally would have been. "We've mapped the patrols of the museum guards, we'll be fine." Nate glanced at me, but I ignored him. He had tried talking to me about what happened, but I had assured him that everything was fine and that I had just been surprised. Of course, I was still hurt at Nate after seeing him with Chloe, but I kept my feelings to myself. I know I didn't technically have a claim on him as we were never dating, but I couldn't help but feel jealous. He never really seemed to pay much attention to me when Chloe was around. In fact, I was still surprised he even walked away from her the first time.

"Relax? Relax?" Flynn scoffed a laugh. "Have you ever been in a Turkish prison, mate? If we get caught, they will lock us up and throw away the sodding key, you do realise that, don't you?"

"Better than you do," Nate shot back.

"Well, you may fancy that kind of thing, but I don't." Nate laughed while I rolled my eyes. "We can't afford to make any mistakes."

"Yeah, and we won't," Nate assured him. I pursed my lips. Famous last words.

"We're here," Chloe announced, indicating the sewer grate above us. We moved into the sewers, turning on our flashlights.

"So what do we do if they switch the patrols?" Flynn inquired worriedly.

"We figure it out as we go," Nate replied.

"We cannot fumble our way through this."

"I don't 'fumble' - I improvise." I rolled my eyes. That is not the word I would've used.

"Oh, is that what you call it?" Chloe asked, smirking.

"Yeah, I'm uh… adaptable."

"Adaptable."

Flynn chuckled. "You cocky bastard." We reached a split in the tunnel and Flynn pointed to a passageway below us. "There. What did I tell you? That passage there is gonna take us right under the museum." I rolled my eyes. And he called Nate cocky.

"You called it, all right," Nate conceded.

Flynn grinned. "You need to have a little more faith in me, chum."

"Okay… This one here is me," Chloe announced, shining her flashlight down a passage behind us.

"All right, remember, that tower's our only way into the exhibit - but we can't even get close with those floodlights on," Nate told her.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "We've gone over this."

"Just make sure you cut the power by the time we reach the second courtyard."

Chloe nodded. "The lights will be out." She looked to Flynn. "I'll have the van waiting at the rendezvous point. Just make sure you get your asses out of there in time."

"Oh, we'll be out," I assured her stiffly. "You just make sure to keep the engines warm." I once again ignored the odd look I got from Nate. I knew my behavior was confusing him, but I didn't really care at this point.

"All right, enough chat - let's do this," Flynn said. He vaulted over the handrail and landed with a splash in the water below. I quickly followed, trying to ignore that stab to my heart as I heard Nate talking to Chloe.

Nate and I followed Flynn through the sewers. I was pointedly making sure to avoid eye contact with Nate.

"You sure you know where you're going?" Nate inquired.

"Don't I always?" Flynn answered. Nate decided not to reply as we trudged through the filthy water. I was seriously going to need a nice long shower after this. "Don't you love the way the water makes your jeans all squidgy?"

"Squidgy, is that a technical term?" I asked, smirking slightly. We climbed up to another level and crossed the gap using some pipes above us.

"It's like the good ol' days, isn't it?"

"Yeah, when were those again?" Nate quipped. We stopped as we came to a dead end.

Flynn frowned. "Oh, wait, this can't be right. We must've made a wrong turn somewhere."

"We should have stopped and asked for directions," I teased.

"Well if you want to go find a crocodile or something and ask, be my guest," Flynn replied.

"Alligators."

Flynn shot me a confused look. "What?"

"The myth is that alligators are the ones found in sewers, not crocodiles," I corrected.

"I think that only applies to New York City," Nate said.

I looked up and noticed a ladder above us. "That will probably get us to the boiler room."

"And from there, we're in," Flynn grinned, clapping me on the shoulder.

"In like Flynn, right?" Nate chuckled, glancing hopefully at me and I sighed. I was not in the mood for one of his stupid jokes.

Flynn blinked, not understanding the joke. "What?"

"In like Flynn."

"I don't get it."

"Would you boys just shut up and give me a boost?" I snapped. I was trying my best to keep my feelings about Nate from affecting me, but it clearly wasn't working very well. Nate sighed glumly and crouched below the ladder, linking his hands together. I stepped into his hands and he lifted me up, allowing me to grab the ladder. I kicked the ladder and it dropped down with a clang. I climbed up to manhole cover and slowly pushed it away after making sure no one was around. "We're clear, hurry up slowpokes." Once the boys made it up, we continued on until we came to a pipe with steam coming from it. Nate found the shut off valve and we moved on till we came to a row of windows. We quickly took cover as a guard walked by on the other side.

"Okay, now there should be a door just around this corner," Nate reminded us. "That's our access point. Once we're through, just stick to the plan. You got me?" We slinked around the corner.

"Tell me you didn't miss this," Flynn said excitedly.

"I'm here aren't I?"

"Only cause we needed a job," I muttered. Or because a certain ex-girlfriend was involved. As if he heard my inner thoughts, Nate cast me a sideways glance, but didn't say anything. We found the door just like Nate said and he tried it.

"It's locked."

"Nice observation, Sherlock," I quipped.

"Good job I came prepared," Flynn announced, twirling a lockpick around his finger. "I pick more than my nose, my friends." I wrinkled my nose in disgust. He knelt beside the door and started to pick the lock, but something caught my eye.

I clamped a hand on Flynn's shoulder. "Hold on there, gunslinger. There's an alarm." I pointed to the small box just above the door.

"That's new since last time," Nate said.

"Great, now what?" Flynn grumbled.

"Well, I can disarm it, if we can find the junction box. It's gotta be around here somewhere." Nate wandered around until he found the junction box and disarmed the alarm. Flynn picked the lock and we entered the next hall. We had to take cover behind an archway as another guard came around the corner. Flynn cursed, but Nate said he had it. He snuck up behind the guard, hitting the back of his neck and knocking him unconscious. With the guard neutralized, we hurried forward, crouching behind a balcony to get our bearings.

"There's the tower," Flynn informed us, indicating the brightly lit tower.

"Yeah - but we can only get to it from the roof, and we can't get to the roof from here," Nate said. "We're going to have to make our way to the next courtyard. Through that gate over there."

"Well, let's do it." Flynn vaulted over the balcony and Nate and I followed. We moved through the courtyard, taking out the guards as quietly as we could. One guard spotted me, but I quickly silenced him before he could alert his fellow guards. The three of us met back at the gate and Nate went to open the gate, but Flynn stopped him, pointing to another alarm.

"Ah, great," Nate grumbled and turned to Flynn. "You wanna get this one?" Flynn raised an eyebrow and I rolled my eyes. It was a wonder my eyes haven't rolled out of my head at this point. I climbed up to the junction box and disarmed the alarm. I dropped back to the ground, startling the boys who hadn't even noticed I had gone.

"If you two boys are done chatting, you can help me lift the gate," I said stiffly. The two glanced at each other and walked over.

"All right, one, two, three…" We lifted the gate slowly so as not to make any noise. "Okay, Alex go." I let go of the gate and crawled under, grabbing the gate once again once I reached the other side. Flynn was next and the two of us held the gate as Nate crawled under. "All right, we gotta cross this courtyard to get onto the roof."

"Okay, I'll just let you two do all the ass-kicking, all right?" Flynn said.

"Wuss," I muttered. Before Flynn could protest my comment, I ran down the stairs as Nate vaulted over the balcony and headed for the fountain. I slammed my fist into the first guard's chin, effectively knocking him into the pillar he had been standing by and rendering him unconscious. I came up behind the next guard and wrapped an arm around his neck and clamped a hand over his mouth and nose. He struggled to get free, but I held on tight. "Mi dispiace," (I'm sorry) I whispered, gently laying the unconscious guard on the floor. I crouched behind a nearby wall, just above another guard. I vaulted over the balcony and quickly took him out. I looked up to see Nate take out the last guard by the gate. "Thanks for the help," I gumbled to Flynn as he jogged over.

"Don't mention it," he replied.

"Now we just gotta find a way up to that window," Nate said.

"Which window? There's a lot of bloody windows." Instead of answering, Nate led us up the wall and through the window into a storage room. Unfortunately, there were four more guards.

Nate sighed heavily. "Crap. Now what?"

"It's time to tip the odds back in our favor," Flynn said, pulling out three guns. I glared at him. I thought we told him no guns!

"Oh, that's brilliant," Nate snapped sarcastically. "Guns? What are you thinking?"

"Relax, Gandhi, they're tranquiliser guns. Totally non-lethal," Flynn assured us. "You conscience will remain unscathed." I took the tranquiliser gun silently. That was actually not a bad idea.

"Oh, well, good idea," Nate muttered, taking his own gun.

"Great. Okay, little bit of advice, these things have lousy range, so we still have to get in close," Flynn informed us. "You okay with that?"

"I know how to shoot a gun, genius," Nate snapped, slightly offended.

"All right. All right, let's take these guys out." I poked my head up from behind my cover and shot the nearest guy while Nate shot another. I reloaded and Flynn and I took out the last two. After pushing a cart into position, we used it to climb to the next level and Flynn tossed a grappling hook to the rafters above us. We finally made it to the rooftops and Nate pointed to the tower.

"All right, there's the tower."

"Getting closer," Flynn said.

"Appreciate that update, Captain Obvious," Nate grumbled. We lept from rooftop to rooftop, trying not to alert the guards patrolling below. I jumped to another roof, grabbing onto the gutter and pulling myself up.

"Let's go, slowpokes," I called. Flynn followed and we turned to wait for Nate. Nate jumped, but the gutter broke away. Flynn quickly slid and grabbed his hand, pulling him up with a grunt.

"You put on weight, mate," Flynn groaned.

"That was close," Nate sighed.

"Whew, all right, no more donuts for you." I suppressed a chuckle as we moved on. We finally reached the tower, but there was a problem. It was still lit up. "Nearly there."

"Yeah, but why are the lights still on?" Nate wondered.

"I thought we told her those need to be off by the time we reached the second courtyard," I said in frustration.

"Chloe will take care of it, don't worry," Flynn assured us. We moved closer and hid behind some crates.

"Ah, crap," Nate grumbled. "We can't get any closer with the tower lit up like that. What the hell is she doing?"

"C'mon, Chloe…" Flynn murmured. Suddenly, one by one, the lights around the tower went out. The Brit grinned. "That's my girl." We climbed the tower and Flynn opened one of the windows. "Okay… We're clear." He attached a rope to the windowsill and tossed it down and gestured to me. "Ladies first."

I rolled my eyes. "Such a gentleman." I grabbed the rope and slid down into the exhibit hall, closely followed by Nate and Flynn.

"Ah, there it is," Flynn said gleefully as we approached the case that held the lamp.

"Yeah, and there's the acoustic alarm," Nate added, pointing to a small box on the side. "Until we get this case unlocked, that thing's gonna go off if we so much as touch this glass."

Flynn held up his lockpick. "No worries, mate." He quickly made work of the lock and opened the case. "Voila." Nate reached in and picked up the lamp. "Now, we're sure it's the right one?"

"Do you see any other lamp covered in Mongolian script?" I inquired, gesturing around.

"No, but we have to be sure," Flynn insisted.

"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out," Nate said, kneeling down. "Sorry, Marco." He smashed the lamp of the floor. Amongst the pieces was a small piece of paper inside and small bits of blue rocks. Nate unfolded the paper and turned it over. It was blank. "Crap." He passed it to me, but Flynn snatched it first. I scowled at him. Rude.

"Well, that's the understatement of the year," Flynn grumbled. I knelt down beside Nate and picked up one of the blue rocks, examining it. "This is it? It's bloody useless!" I ignored Flynn having a temper tantrum behind us and passed the pebble to Nate.

"Is this what I think it is?" I asked, forgetting about my hurt feelings for the moment. Nate took the pebble.

"...the light of the Great Khan…" He recalled. "Wait a minute." He started gathering the rest of the blue pebbles into a pile.

"What're you doing? Flynn asked.

"It's resin. It'll burn," Nate replied, confirming my suspicion.

"And…?"

"Just gimme your lighter." Flynn passed Nate his lighter.

"Is that really a good idea, in here?" Nate ignored him and lit the resin. The entire room was illuminated in a dark blue hue. "Whoa..."

"Let me see that," Nate said, taking the paper back. He held the paper over the flame and an outline of an island appeared along with some writing. I grinned. Marco was clever. "...our ships were driven by a great flood tide into the wilds of Java…"

"Sounds like they were hit by a tsunami," Flynn guessed.

"Yeah, somewhere off the west coast of Borneo."

"Oh, great, that narrows it down a bit."

"Well, I bet this mountain was probably the closest landmark where they went aground," I mused, pointing to the glowing mountain. "Find that mountain, we find the ships."

"Yeah, good work, mates," Flynn praised. He tried to take the map, but Nate pulled away.

"Wait, wait - there's more… '...as if the ocean itself sought to throw off the terrible cargo we carried from Sham-bha-la - the curse of the Cintamani." Nate and I's eyes widened.

Harry looked between us. "That mean something to you?"

"Shambhala.. Oh my God… Flynn -"

"What?"

"Marco Polo found Shambhala." Flynn shook his head, not understanding the significance.

"Shangri-La," I supplied. Flynn's eyes widened and he looked back at the map.

"You're joking."

"If they were carrying the Cintamani Stone, it might still be there," Nate said excitedly.

"This is all very fascinating… But we've really got to go," Flynn insisted. He ran back towards the rope, not waiting to see if either of us followed.

"Yeah - we're right behind you," Nate said. I waited as he stamped out the burning resin then we both ran back towards the rope only to find Flynn reeling it back in. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Sorry, mates," Flynn said, not sounding the least bit apologetic. "This is where we part ways."

"Wait - Flynn, we had a plan."

"No, you had a plan," Flynn corrected. "Turns out I've got one of my own."

"C'mon, thow us the rope - don't be stupid -" Nate insisted, trying to reason with his so called friend.

"Oh yeah, right - you're the mastermind," Flynn stated mockingly. "Only you overlooked one little detail, didn't you, partner?" He pulled out a gun and aimed it at Nate, who backed away, stepping in front of me in the process.

Nate glared at the Brit. "So what're you gonna do, shoot us now?"

Flynn shook his head, smiling sinisterly. "No. I just need you two out of the way for a little while." He shot a nearby display case, shattering the glass. All the lights came on and an alarm blared. Nate swore. "You think I didn't know about the ships from the beginning? Any schoolboy could've figured that out."

"Flynn, listen -" Nate tried to reason.

"Face it genius. You've been played." Hidden slightly behind Nate, I slowly reached around to where my knife was sheathed. It was probably not my smartest idea, but with the guards no doubt on their way, I had no desire to be stuck in a Turkish prison. Just as my hand closed around the knife's hilt, the display case next to me shattered as Flynn shot it. I cringed into Nate's back as the glass flew everywhere. "Ah, ah, don't try it, sweetheart. Want to give the guards a decent head start." I snapped my head around at the sound of shouting down the hall. "Right, that's my cue. No hard feelings, yeah?" Flynn sent us a grin and disappeared from sight. My knife flew out the window after him, far above its intended mark.

"Traditore! Quando ti prendo le mani, ti colpirò così forte da far venire le vertigini ai tuoi antenati!" (Traitor! When I get my hands on you, I'm going to hit you so hard it will make your ancestors dizzy!) I shouted after him. Not surprisingly, Flynn didn't come back. I growled in frustration as Nate and I searched for a way out.

"This way!" Nate said, grabbing my hand and dragging through the exhibit hall.

"You sure know how to pick 'em," I growled as we ran, trying to avoid the laser sights.

"I know. I know," Nate shot back. We bolted through the exhibits until we reached the manhole cover we came up through. We dropped back into the sewers, but there were guards there too. We skidded to a halt, seemingly trapped with guards on all sides. "Agh, how the hell do we get outta here?"

"Ladder!" I said, pointing to the ladder a few yards away. We scrambled up the ladder.

"See ya suckers," Nate called, thinking us homefree. However, as soon as I pushed the manhole cover aside, we were surrounded by guards. As I glared at the armed guards, I made a mental note to go through with my threat to punch Flynn next time I saw him.


	3. Three Months Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter my friends! This one's a little shorter, sorry. Hope you enjoy it anyway!

Three months. That's how long I've been stuck in this hell hole they call a prison. Nate and I had been kept together for a while, but Nate kept starting fights with the other inmates whenever they tried flirting with me, so we were separated. Once Nate was gone, the other inmates figured they could flirt all they wanted, till I knocked a guy unconscious for slapping my bum. I was moved to solitary confinement after that. Luckily, I was able to befriend one of the guards and he would bring me different books to read. I was currently laying on my poor excuse for a bed, simply staring at the ceiling when I heard my cell door being unlocked. I looked up and smiled when I saw my guard friend.

"Hey, Alim," I greeted as I sat up and stretched, sighing in satisfaction as my spine popped. "I was wondering when you were coming back. Did you bring me another book?"

The guard shook his head. "Not today," he replied in heavily accented English. He finished unlocking the door and opened it with a loud creak that I had long since grown used to. "I brought a friend of yours with me this time."

I gave him a puzzled look. "What friend?" Alim stepped aside and a familiar grey haired man walked in, trademark cigar in his mouth. "Sully!" I grinned widely and shot up to hug him. Sully laughed and patted my back.

"How ya doing, sweetheart?" He asked, looking me over.

I shrugged, still grinning. "About a well as I can be after spending three months in a Turkish prison."

Sully chuckled and patted my shoulder. "Well, come on. We still need to get Nate, then we can get you both out of this hell hole." Alim led Sully and I to where Nate was being held. Like I had been, he was lounging on his bed, reenacting our last interaction with Flynn with his hands in the sunlight coming through.

"Face it genius. You've been played," Nate said, using his left hand as a puppet. He switched to his right hand. "Oh really…" He made a gun with his right and 'shot' his left hand, making ridiculous dying noises. We walked over and I leaned against the bars of his cell, blocking the sunlight. "Hey - hey - hey - jackass, you're ruining the show here."

"Ah, what a shame," Sully replied sarcastically.

"Oh come off it, Sully," I teased as Nate immediately shot up and turned, his face lighting up. "I rather like that version of events. It didn't land us in this hell hole."

The grin on Nate's face could illuminate the darkest room. "Sully! Alex!"

Sully laughed. "I really can't leave you two along for a minute."

"Oh man, am I glad to see you two," Nate said.

"How you doin, kid?"

"I'm doing just great." Alim opened the cell and stepped aside.

"So, I had to grease a few palms," Sully admitted. Ah, so that's how he got us out. "Did go through the rest of both your money. And a good chunk of my own. But hey…" He and Nate embraced. Sully recoiled slightly. "Jeez, you stink."

Nate chuckled. "Yeah, not half as bad as that cigar."

"Oh, I don't know," I mused. "After three months of smelling nothing but body odor and God knows what else, the cigar kind of smells good." Nate shrugged and held out his arms. I smiled and hugged him tightly. I had missed him. I had had a lot of time to think over the past three months. Sure I loved the big oaf, always have, but our friendship meant too much to me to allow his poor choice in women to come between us.

"Are you okay, Alex?" Nate asked. "Did they leave you alone after I left?"

"Well they did once I knocked one of them unconscious," I replied with a smirk. "Pretty sure he lost a tooth too." Nate smiled and shook his head fondly.

"Why do I even worry?" He questioned himself. He turned his attention back to Sully. "Hey, how'd you find us, anyway?" I looked at our cigar smoking friend, wondering the same thing.

"Well, a friend of yours asked for my help…" Just then, the last person I wanted to see walked around the corner and leaned against the bars.

"Hello, Nate," Chloe greeted.

"Figlio di puttana! (son of a bitch)" I growled, clenching my fists.

"Oh, no. No," Nate said firmly, backing up and glaring at Chloe.

"Now, wait a second -" Sully tried to reason.

"Sully, kick her out and shut the door. We're safer in here."

"Dico che l'abbiamo chiusa qui e siamo scappati," (I say we shut _her_ in here and make a run for it) I suggested to Nate.

Nate rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That's actually not a bad idea."

Sully huffed, not able to completely understand what I said, but able to pick out enough to get the gist. "Just wait a goddamn minute. Hear her out," he insisted.

"Thank you, Victor," Chloe said, walking into the cell. I glared darkly at her, but she paid me no mind.

"Hey, no offense, Sully - but you're not exactly the best judge of character," Nate snapped. "Especially when it comes to women." I side eyed him. He wasn't much better to be honest.

Sully shrugged, not denying the fact. "Fair enough. All the same."

"Dear God…" Chloe mumbled, covering her nose with a grimace as the smell finally hit her.

"Oh no, it's not that bad," Nate soothed mockingly, before glaring. "Look, I have my own bucket." Chloe let out a disgusted groan as she spotted the small wooden bucket in the corner. "Last cell I was in, eight of us had to share."

"Listen, Nate -" Chloe tried, but Nate wasn't in the mood to listen, and frankly neither was I. I was seriously still considering knocking her unconscious and locking her in the cell.

"Y'know something - I really appreciate you dropping by - but if you and Flynn hadn't screwed Alex and I over in the first place -"

"Now, wait a minute -"

"- We wouldn't've been rotting in -"

"Listen - Nate -"

"- this shithole for the last three months - so excuse me if I'm not just, y'know, leaping into your arms." Nate flopped back onto his bed, arms crossed as he stared angrily at the wall.

"I had nothing to do with it," Chloe defended.

"Right," Nate scoffed.

"Yeah, give us one good reason why we should believe you," I challenged, crossing my arms and glowering at her.

Chloe threw her hands up in frustration. ""I told you, they're not going to listen to me."

"Screw this," Sully muttered. "Nate, Alex - They found the ships." As if a switch had been flipped, Nate shot up, looking at our friend eagerly.

"In Borneo?"

Sully nodded. "Yep."

"What about the Cintamani Stone?" I asked with a guarded expression, eager to know what had happened in the last three months, but still wary of Chloe.

"How do you know about that?" Chloe questioned, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Do you really think Flynn could've figured that out on his own?" Nate answered for me.

"All right, good point," Chloe conceded. "No, they haven't found it yet." Nate and I frowned, glancing at each other.

"What do you mean, 'they'?"

"Flynn and his client, Lazarevic," Sully told us.

"Y'know, the 'nutcase'?" Chloe reminded us. "They've been working together all along." Nate nodded, the gears in his mind turning.

"All right, then. If they haven't found the Stone, that means there's still time. You're gonna get us into that dig site," Nate told Chloe. "We're gonna snatch that treasure right out from under them."

"They'll never see it coming," Chloe said, smiling.

"Yeah, well, payback's a bitch," Nate countered, striding out of the cell.

"First thing I'm going to do when I see Flynn again is punch that stronzo (asshole) back to England," I announced.

Nate laughed. "I'll hold him for you."

**Later**

Nate, Chloe, and I huddled around a map spread out on the table. Nate and I had showered and changed into fresh clothes and boy did it feel good. I now sported a navy blue henley over a dark grey tank with olive green fitted cargo pants and brown knee high boots. Nate placed a book on the table in front of Chloe, pointing to the Cintamani Stone.

"Look - they called it the 'wish-fulfilling jewel'. It's a sacred object," he explained as Sully walked back into the room holding mugs for everyone.

"What, like a Buddhist 'holy grail'?" Chloe inquired, accepting her mug from Sully.

"Exactly." I accepted my mug with a nod of thanks and sipped at the warm liquid. Sully joined us at the table with his own mug after passing Nate one. Nate picked up another copy of Marco Polo's journal Chloe had brought. "Sully, listen to this - 'In the kingdom of Shambhala lies the most precious thing to be found in all the world - a perfect raw sapphire of the deepest blue, larger around than the reach of a man's arm.'" I whistled in appreciation.

"Oh, that's gotta be worth millions," Sully said in awe.

"Hundreds of millions," Nate added. He turned to Chloe. "And you say there's more of this?"

Chloe nodded. "Loads more. Lazarevic paid top dollar for Marco Polo's journals. He's been after the Cintamani Stone for Years."

"Well, if he's been counting on Flynn to find it for him, it's no wonder he hasn't had any luck," Sully said.

"If I can get a look at Lazarevic's files, I-" I narrowed my eyes at Nate over the top of my mug. "-We can find that Stone," Nate corrected.

"Hang on a minute, cowboy - that's easier said than done," Chloe warned. "The files are in his tent, and his tent is in the middle of the camp. It's like an armed compound, there are soldiers everywhere."

"Sounds like he doesn't want anyone getting that Stone before him," I joked.

"Well, that's why it has to be an inside job. From someone they know and trust," Nate said, giving Chloe a pointed look.

Chloe sighed. "Oh. Okay, I see where this is going."

"I'll just need a diversion. You give me five minutes in that tent - that's all it'll take."

Chloe smirked. "Really, five minutes? Well that's great, I won't even have to get my top off." I choked on my drink and Sully pounded my back a few times as I coughed. Nate sent a look my way.

"Chloe, I was thinking more like an explosion," he corrected somewhat awkwardly.

"Or that - can be arranged," Chloe quickly said. Nate sighed and turned to Sully and I.

"Are you two in?"

"Oh hell yes, I was in before you were!" Sully replied. Nate looked at me.

"What the hell," I said. "I say we teach these stronzos (assholes) how karma works." I drained my mug and set it back on the table. "I want another knife though."


	4. Tidlewave of Mystery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter people! This one's a little longer because I couldn't find a good place to break it. I want to thank you all for reading my story so far and I hope you have been enjoying it!

Nate, Sully, and I trudged through the jungle. I pushed aside a large leaf only to grumble when it came back and smacked me in the face. Why do all our treasure hunts take us through a tropical jungle? For once couldn't we have to find a clue at the Eiffel Tower or Coliseum, or maybe even Disney World, I could use a vacation.

"Chloe, you reading us?" Nate asked through his earpiece.

" _Loud and clear,"_ the Britt replied.

"We're getting close."

" _Okay, I've planted charges all around the perimeter of the camp. You three just need to arm them. The first one should be right ahead of you,"_ Chloe informed us. " _I also left the detonator for you._ " Sure enough, we found a charge placed on a fallen tree, a green light flashing rapidly.

"There it is," Nate said, arming the device as Sully picked up the detonator. The light changed to flashing red. "All right. First one's set. Don't touch the button."

"This one?" Sully questioned, pointing to the button he held. Nate gave him a warning look and Sully chuckled.

" _Once you've set all the charges, just hit the detonator and it's showtime,_ " Chloe said.

"They'll never know what hit them," Sully laughed.

I grinned in anticipation. "I hope we get to see the look on Lazarevic's face."

" _Just be careful,_ " Chloe warned. " _Lazaravic has got his men posted all around the perimeter._ "

"Oh good, I was beginning to worry this was going to be too easy," I said flatly.

Sully huffed tiredly, wiping his forehead. "I'm sweatin' like a hooker in church."

Nate gave Sully an odd look. "You brought a hooker to church?"

Sully shrugged. "Why not?"

"Didn't know you even went to church," I commented. We continued through the jungle, quietly taking out any patrols we met along the way. We made it to the first excavation site and armed the charges Chloe set, after clearing the place of guards of course.

"Oooh, that must've been some tsunami to wash these ships so far inland," Sully observed as we continued. We approached a fallen log and I quickly motioned for the boys to get down as I spotted two guards examining a generator in the water below us.

"Look - they're not armed," Nate whispered.

"Well, not that many - what are we waiting for? We can take these guys," Sully said.

"I don't know, Sully, maybe -" Nate was cut off as a third guard suddenly appeared and kicked Sully in the face.

"Sully!" I cried, rushing over to help the older man only to get a boot to the chest, sending me over the log and into the water with a splash. I sat up, spluttering and gasping for air. I got another facefull of water as Nate and the guard crash landed beside me. The other two guards circled me as I got to my feet, an arm wrapped around my aching ribs. I didn't have time to draw my gun as one guard rushed me. I ducked under his first swing and landed one of my own to his diaphragm. He gasped and stumbled back a step. I then slammed my foot into the back on the knee, causing his leg to buckle. I jumped and spun a kick at his head, knocking him out cold. I turned to the other guard, but thankfully, Nate had already taken him out. "Thanks for the help, Sully!" I called.

"Hey, you two were doing fine." Another guard attempted to attack him from behind, but Sully threw him down in the water. "Here's another one for ya!"

"Sully!" Nate cried in exasperation. I rolled my eyes and we both ran at the guard who didn't know what hit him as we each grabbed an arm and body slammed him to the ground.

"Enough of the frivolity kids," Sully scolded lightly as he kicked down a rope for us. "C'mon, we got work to do."

"What does frivolity mean?" Nate asked.

I sighed as I climbed up behind Nate. "When we get rich from this adventure, I'm buying you a dictionary." We got to the top and saw a rather large black hose leading off into the jungle.

"What do you bet we follow the hose, we find the camp?" Sully said.

"You always follow the hose," Nate replied. "Just like in Montreal, huh?"

Sully sighed. "You're never gonna forget that, are ya?" I chuckled as we continued.

We slowed down as we approached a break in the trees. "I think I see the camp up ahead," I informed the boys. We crouched down behind a fallen log to observe the camp.

"Okay, you ready?" Sully asked, holding up the detonator.

"Wait, just - hold on a sec," Nate replied. He peered through a pair of binoculars.

"What's going on down there?" I inquired. Nate passed me the binoculars. I could see Chloe standing in the tent in the middle of the camp with Flynn off to the left talking to a large, bald man.

"Three months and you have found nothing," the man accused in a heavy Serbian accent.

"Well, now, wait - wait a minute, we've been -"

"Commander!" A soldier called, interrupting Flynn. The bald man turned to the soldier.

"That must be Lazaravic," Nate mused.

The soldier shoved another guard forward. "This man was caught stealing artifacts from site number five."

Lazarevic gave a humorless laugh as he examined the object the soldier handed him. "You would betray me for this?" I watched painfully as he carelessly tossed the artifact into the water. He just threw away what was potentially a precious artifact! I may be a treasure hunter, but I was also an archaeologist.

"No - no, Zoran, I can explain -" The accused guard attempted.

"No, no need - no need." I held back a gasp as Lazarevic pulled out a knife and stabbed the guard, shoving his body into the water. "I am surrounded by traitors and fools!" Well he certainly wasn't going to inspire loyalty in his men if that's how he treated them.

"Whaddya say we really ruin this guy's day?" Sully asked.

Nate grinned. "Do it." Sully pressed the detonator. In the distance we could hear explosions as the charges went off. Chaos erupted in the camp as the guards scrambled around.

"Spread out! Search the perimeter! Go!" Lazarevic ordered his men. He ran off, closely followed by Flynn and Chloe.

"All right, it's all yours, kids!" Sully announced, clapping Nate on the back. "I'll cover you from here!" Nate and I nodded and clambered down from our hiding spot. " _Some fool left a sniper rifle up here._ "

"Awe, I want the sniper rifle?" I whined. I glanced down at my own little pistol with a pout.

" _Tell ya what, you can get the rifle next time,_ " Sully replied.

"Deal."

" _Careful, you two, looks like they left a couple sentries behind_."

"Meet you in the middle," I whispered to Nate and snuck around to the left while he went right. I quietly took out any guards in my path, finally making it to the main tent. Nate jogged up a moment later as I approached a table at the back of the tent. I gave a low whistle as I sorted through several of the documents. "Lazarevic means business. Nate, come look at this."

Nate shuffled through some of the documents. "He's got files on every expedition to find Shambhala - all the way back to the 1600s."

" _What about Marco Polo's journals?_ " Sully asked.

"Ah, here they are," I announced, picking up a stack of documents similar to the ones Chloe had shown us.

" _Just hurry it up - you haven't got much time._ "

"Uh huh," I hummed absentmindedly, eyes skimming the first page. "The worthy pilgrim is granted a golden passport to conquer obstacles on his journey to Shambhala." I looked up at Nate to see he was just as confused as me.

" _Is that supposed to mean something?_ "

"Beats me," Nate answered. He looked over my shoulder and picked up another document. "Hold on - here we go. 'It was with great sorrow that I left my fellow travelers to their fate - a fate decreed by the dreadful cargo we bore from Shambhala.'"

" _They must've thought that tsunami was some kind of divine retribution_ ," Sully mused as I picked up the next page. My heart sank as I read.

"Ah merda (crap)," I growled.

Nate looked at me with concern. "What is it?"

"I don't think the Cintamani Stone is here."

"What?" Sully and Nate said together.

I held up a placating hand. "Listen to this: 'I would have sooner endured the wrath of Kublai Khan himself than remove the Cintamani Stone from that sacred shrine.'"

Nate's eyes widened as he realized what this meant. "Marco Polo never had the Stone."

" _Then what 'dreadful cargo' is he talking about?_ " Sully wondered.

I shook my head with a frustrated sigh. "I don't know…" Of course it wasn't going to be that easy. There was always something.

" _Well, if the Stone's not here, what the hell is Lazarevic looking for?_ " Nate and I both looked up at a map pinned to the wall above the table, then glanced at each other as we put the puzzle together.

"Shambhala," we said together.

" _Here in Borneo?_ " Sully questioned. " _He's a little wide of the mark, don'tcha think?_ "

"He must be trying to pick up Marco Polo's trail...back to Shambhala," Nate mused.

" _Why?_ "

"Because the Stone is still there," Nate concluded with a dry laugh. "Chloe, can you talk?"

" _Hold on_ ," Chloe replied. " _Yeah. I'm here_."

"In all this digging they've done, have they found any bodies, any remains at all?"

" _No, now that you mention it - nothing. Why?_ "

Nate laughed quietly to himself. "Over six hundred people were shipwrecked here, yet there's no bodies? Don't you find that a little odd?"

" _So where did they all go?_ " Sully wondered.

I examined a map showing the terrain of the surrounding land. On the edge of the map was a mountain. "Well, where would you go if a tsunami hit?"

" _To higher ground._ "

"Bingo. We head to that mountain, what do you bet we find Marco's pals?" Nate said, gathering some of the documents from the table. "Chloe, can you meet up with us?"

" _Already on my way_ ," the Brit answered.

"Great."

" _Uh-uh. Nate, Alex, you gotta get outta there_ ," Sully warned. I pulled my gun and ran to the edge of the tent. I cursed silently. It appeared some of the guards had returned.

"You're gonna have to give us a minute, Sully."

"We don't have a minute," I snapped. Nate turned around and saw our predicament.

"Oh, crap!"

" _Stay down, kids! I got you covered!_ " Sully said. I moved to get a better vantage point and spotted a container of grenades sitting nearby. Well, when life gives you explosive lemons, blow something up.

I picked up a couple grenades and tossed one to Nate. "Nate, catch!"

Nate glanced at the explosive in his hand. "Grenades, well that's convenient."

After taking out the guards and a turret with a well aimed grenade, we continued our way through the jungle. Eventually we came across some stone steps.

"Whoa, Alex, Sully, look at these stones," Nate said, looking around with a small smile.

"Ahh, now we're gettin' somewhere," Sully grinned.

"Guess that means we're on the right track," I added. We followed the steps, coming to a large hollowed-out tree.

Nate put his hands on his hips and chuckled. "Would you look at that." I turned as I heard footsteps to see Chloe jogging up.

"Hey," she greeted, then paused as she saw what we were looking at. "Hello - what do we have here."

"With any luck, the last resting place of Marco Polo's crew."

"Shall we check it out?" Sully said with a grin.

"After you, Indiana Jones," I replied. Nate rolled his eyes and walked in.

"Y'know, if I'm Indian Jones, does that make you Marion or Sallah?"

"Well I'm certainly no Marcus Brody. I can find my way through a museum blindfolded," I stated proudly. Nate chuckled.

"Oh, this place must be thousands of years old," he mused, looking around.

I nodded in agreement. "At least." I turned around to see Nate had disappeared. "Nate?"

"Down here," I heard Nate call. I wandered over to a hole I hadn't noticed previously. "This way." I jumped down after him, followed by Sully and Chloe. I turned on my flashlight and gasped at the sight. The room we had just entered was filled with skeletal remains. "Whoa… looks like we hit the jackpot."

Chloe scrunched her face in disgust. "Eugh. There must be hundreds of bodies down here." I knelt down next to a couple of skeletons using my knife, opened the jaw of one to get a better look.

"Their teeth, they're black."

"This one too," Nate said a few feet away.

"For God's sake, they're all that way…" Sully noted.

"They must've taken refuge here during the tsunami," Nate mused. "There's gotta be some sort of clue around here." The four of us spread out to search for clues. I wandered into the next room, scaring a colony of bats. I yelped and ducked as the bats flew over my head. I shot a glare at Nate as I heard him chuckle behind me. "What was that you told me two years ago, 'they're just bats'," he teased. I did the mature thing and stuck my tongue out at him.

"Well, when you've finished laughing at me, get over here," I snipped, shining my flashlight around the room I had just entered. There were wooden barrels lying all around the room. "I think I found something." The other three walked over, shining their own lights around.

"They must've carried their cargo all the way up here after they were shipwrecked," Chloe said. Nate walked over to one of the barrels and picked something up.

"Whatcha got there, Nate?" I asked, moving to stand beside him.

"More resin," he replied, showing me the blue rock. He glanced around and picked up a medieval torch leaning against a nearby barrel and stuck the resin inside. "Sully, give me a light." Sully took his lighter out and lit the resin, bathing the room in a blue glow.

"I knew there was a reason we kept you around," I teased, earning a scoff from the older man. Looking around, I noticed some stains on the floor that weren't visible before.

"Wait a minute… this is blood," Nate realized. The room was covered in the long dried substance, now glowing a bright blue under the light of the burning resin.

"Dio mio (my god), it's everywhere," I gasped in horror.

"Looks like a real massacre," Sully added.

"All right, let's follow the bloodstains," Nate suggested. "We'll see if they lead somewhere." Nate led the way, following the glowing blood trail to the next room. The stains suddenly ended in front of a pile of rocks.

"Seems to end at this wall," Sully noted.

"Yeah, that's odd." I moved forward and pushed on the pile of rocks experimentally. The pile shifted.

"These rocks are loose," I realized. "Guys, come help with this."

"Oh, here we go again with the pushing…" Sully groaned as he and Nate helped push the rocks. The pile gave way, revealing another path. "I think I hurt myself."

"Hang in there old timer," I soothed, patting Sully's shoulder as I followed Nate down the new path.

"The trail leads in here," Nate announced. There were even more skeletons lying around.

"Oh, man, more bodies," Sully grumbled.

"Y'know, maybe I'm crazy, but it looks like they all killed each other," Nate mused.

"C'mon, Nate, you're just getting spooked," Sully dismissed.

"No, I think he has a point," I said. We entered a room at the end of the hall. Inside was another skeleton, which of course wasn't odd given the number of bodies we had just walked by. This one, however, was holding something.

"Whoa… Look at this," Nate said, tossing aside the torch and approaching the skeleton. "What do we have here?"

"Careful…" Chloe warned as Nate reached for the object the skeleton held. He grabbed the object and tried to pull it away only to scream. The three of us jumped back in surprise, screaming as well. Nate then started to laugh.

"Just kidding," Nate laughed.

"Nate - you're gonna give me a goddamn heart attack," Sully grumbled, sitting on some nearby stone steps. I punched my best friend's arm and muttered a few choice Italian words under my breath. Nate opened the object, which turned out to be a box and pulled out a scroll. He tossed the box aside and unrolled the scroll, revealing a very intricate dagger. He passed the scroll off to me as he examined the dagger.

"Man, is that an ugly freakin' thing," Sully commented.

"What is it - some kind of weapon?" Chloe asked.

Nate shook his head, turning the dagger in his hands. "No - No it's a Phurba. It's a ritual object, from Tibet. It's used to destroy obstacles."

Sully frowned in confusion. "Huh?"

"Spiritual objects," I clarified. Chloe nodded in understanding and rolled her eyes.

"Wait a minute…" Nate said, getting our attention again. "Could this be what Marco Polo was talking about?"

"Kid, Alex is usually the only one who knows what you're talking about," Sully told him.

"Sometimes it's a stretch even for me," I added with a smirk.

"In his journal - he wrote that the worthy seeker would be given 'a golden passport to conquer obstacles on the journey to Shambhala'," Nate continued.

"So what - this is it?" Chloe asked.

"Look, that's all really interesting - but where the hell is it a passport to?" Sully inquired, frustration clear in his tone. I glanced down at the scroll I was still holding.

"Well, maybe this map would help," I spoke, holding up the scroll. On one side was a map.

"Lemme see that," Nate said, passing the Phurba to Chloe and reaching for the map.

I shifted away slightly, tightening my hold on the map. "Nuh uh, this one's mine." Nate rolled his eyes, but lowered his hand. Instead he walked closer and looked over my shoulder. I ignored the glare Chloe sent me and turned my attention to the wording on the map. "Between Greater India and the province of Tibet lies a field of exquisitely finished temples, hundreds of gilded spires stretching as far as the eye can see."

"Hold on - I know this place," Sully said. "It's in Nepal."

Nate nodded. "Yeah, except it's not just a field of temples anymore… it's a city."

"Well, that could make things a little more challenging," Chloe muttered.

"Hold on, there's more…" Nate added. "In all these many temples, only one conceals the secret path to Shambhala - and that path shall only be revealed to the pilgrim who bears the golden passport." We all looked at the Phurba Chloe was still holding.

Sully chuckled. "All right, nice work, kids."

"So what are we waiting for? Let's get outta here," Chloe said.

I folded the map and tucked it away. "Yeah, I've had about enough of skeletons for one day." The four of us jogged back out the way we came.

"I'm gonna go out and make sure the coast is clear, " Chloe announced. "See you in a bit." She climbed out the hole we came in. Nate and I followed after.

"I still don't trust her," I said, as I watched her jog off.

"You never did," Nate replied.

"You wanna give me a hand, Nate?" Sully inquired from below. Nate turned to help Sully out of the pit while I kept a close eye on the surroundings. Shouts suddenly sounded from outside the hollow tree. "Oh, goddamn it," Sully muttered.

"We gotta get out of here!" I urged. The three of us ran for the exit only to skid to a halt as Chloe came running back in.

"Harry! In here!" She called, aiming her gun at us. "It's Drake and King!"

"What the hell -?" Nate started, glaring indignantly at Chloe.

"Get your hands up!" We raised our hands.

"You sure know how to pick 'em," Sully grumbled to Nate.

"Shut up, Sully," Nate sushed.

"Ti avevo detto che avremmo dovuto rinchiuderla nella tua cella in Turchia," (I told you we should have locked her in your cell back in Turkey.) I added under my breath.

Nate groaned as Flynn ran in with three armed guards behind him. "Alex, non adesso per favore." (Alex, not right now please)

"Should've known it was you two," Flynn chuckled. He turned to Sully. "And you - Victor 'goddamn' Sullivan… you still dragging this tired old sack of crap around?" I didn't even register moving until my fist connected with Flynn's jaw. The Brit stumbled back a few steps, clutching his jaw as the guards aimed their guns at me. Nate quickly grabbed my arm, pulling me behind him protectively. Flynn waved a hand at the guards dismissively, rubbing his jaw with a chuckle. "You've got quite the right hook. Can't say I didn't have that coming. Still, that was pretty ballsy for a girl who's spent the last three months with her boyfriend behind bars." I was too angry to even bother correcting his boyfriend comment.

"Better than pissing away three months in the jungle without a clue," Nate replied for me, shoving me a bit further behind him as I moved forward again, grinding my teeth.

"Found the ships, though, didn't I?" Flynn gloated with a smug grin.

Nate scoffed. "You couldn't find your own ass with both hands."

"And a map," Sully added. Chloe moved forward, nudging Nate aside and shoving her feet against mine, making me spread my legs slightly.

"They came from down there," she announced as she 'searched' me. I glowered at her as she reached into my back pocket and pulled out the map. "Whoa… Harry, look at this." She passed the map to Flynn.

"Speaking of maps…" Flynn unfolded the map and began trying to translate it. Thing was, he wasn't as well versed in the language as Nate or me. "...between India and Tibet…" He tutted as he worked on the next line. I rolled my eyes. This was going to take forever. "...one temple will reveal a -"

"Pathway to Shambhala," Nate cut in, apparently as frustrated as me. "Jesus, Flynn, while we're young."

"Oh, now - don't be such a bad sport," Flynn chuckled. "Take them to Lazarevic. You're gonna wish you'd stayed in prison, mate."

I scoffed as Chloe forced us to move. "At least the inmates were better company than your British culo (butt)." Nate had to cover a laugh behind a cough as Flynn shot a glare my way. I merely shrugged and walked out. After disarming us, my knife included, Chloe and two of the three guards escorted Nate, Sully, and me back down the stone steps.

"C'mon, keep moving," one of the guards ordered. Suddenly, Chloe pistol whipped the guard over the head. The second guard turned and fired at Chloe, catching her in the arm. Sully tried to wrestle the gun from him before Chloe shot him then the first guard. Chloe cursed and grabbed her injured arm.

"Are you all right?" Nate asked.

Chloe shrugged with a brief glance at her injury. "Yeah, well, it'll make it look more believable. Now, I'm going to try to buy you some time." She took out the Phurba and handed it to Nate.

"Chloe, you have to come with us," Nate insisted, though I disagreed. I still didn't trust her.

"No." I stiffened as Chloe gave Nate a quick kiss, which seemed to catch him off guard. "Just meet me in Nepal. Now, run." Chloe ran off back to Flynn.

"C'mon, let's go before she changes her mind and betrays us again," I groused, running off before either guy could make a comment. Gun shots sounded close by.

"Crap! They spotted us!" Nate shouted.

"Run for it!" Sully cried.

"No, I just thought we'd stop for tea!" I replied sarcastically, ducking as a few shots came a little too close for comfort. I suddenly skidded to a halt as the edge of a cliff came into view. "Whoa!" Sully stopped next to me, scrambling slightly as Nate bumped into him.

"Ah, damn - now what do we do?" Sully asked.

"We jump," Nate said simply.

Sully glanced down as the river far below us. "Hold on there, Sundance - you gotta be outta your mind. We'll break our goddamn necks!"

"Yeah, if we get caught, Lazarevic'll break 'em for us."

"I'm getting too old for this bullcrap," Sully grumbled.

Nate groaned and rolled his eyes. "Ah, c'mon, now don't you start this again."

Sully sighed. "Listen, I don't have your luck, either of you. Guys like me got to know when to walk away from the table."

"Sully, we're gonna get outta this. Okay? We always do," Nate assured.

"Yeah, you two go meet Chloe in Nepal. I'm going somewhere warm."

"C'mon -" Nate tried.

"Hey, you can tell me all about it when you two get back," Sully insisted. I glanced back the way we had come at the sound of shouts to see Flynn with several more armed guards headed our way.

"If you two are finished chatting, can we get out of here?" I asked tensely.

"After you, sunshine," Sully said.

"Age before beauty," I replied with a cheeky grin.

"See ya in hell, kids!" Sully gave a mock salute and jumped off the cliff. "Yeahooo!"

I glanced at Nate. "Well, here goes nothing. Geronimo!" Wind rushed by me until I landed with a splash in the cold water. I heard Nate hit the water a moment later. "Well, that's one way to get a bath."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you guys think of Nate speaking Italian? I thought I would add some of that in this story because I figured he's been around Alex since they were teenagers and he already knew several languages so how hard would it be for him to pick up Italian. Plan on him speaking a little more in the future!


	5. The Game is On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter folks! Sorry, but this one is short.

Nate and I drove our rental jeep through the war-torn streets of Nepal with me at the wheel. I had insisted on driving since the last time Nate drove, he had driven us off a cliff. Nate had protested, claiming it had been two years since the incident with Eddie Raja, but eventually relented. I had replaced my knife yet again. I was seriously going through them this time around. I glanced around sadly at the burning buildings as we drove by. This was probably a once beautiful city until Lazarevic came.

"When you said Lazarevic had a head start on us, you weren't kidding…" Nate commented to Chloe over his earpiece.

" _Well, he's had some help from the local guerillas_ ," Chloe informed us. " _The city's been on the brink of civil war for years. He just needed to throw a little gasoline on the fire_."

"A little gasoline?" I scoffed, shifting gears. "Looks like he threw on an entire oil tanker."

" _Yeah, well, all the chaos provides some cover while he destroys the city looking for the right temple._ " Nate followed the progress of several armed bandits as they jogged along the street, thankfully in the opposite direction we were going. " _Nate? Hello?_ "

"Yeah, I'm still here," Nate replied, shaking his head slightly.

" _You're not having second thoughts, are you?_ "

Nate chuckled. "Who, me? Never."

" _Good - 'cause I'm ready to be done with these clowns,_ " Chloe said. " _You got a map?_ "

"Yeah, we just stopped by the local visitor's center and grabbed one," I quipped.

"Yes, we have one," Nate clarified, shooting me a 'place nice' look. I shrugged and swerved a bit to avoid some debris in the road.

" _I'll meet you in the Old Market - things are pretty quiet over there,_ " Chloe told us.

"All right, you got it." I glanced in my side mirror and spotted a military truck rounding the corner and gaining.

"Ah crap!" I groaned, quickly shifting gears and stepping on the gas. "We've got company."

" _Oh, great. Can you lose them?_ " Chloe asked.

"I don't think that's going to be an option," I growled, shifting gears again. The truck rammed into the back of our jeep.

" _Are you two all right?_ "

"We've been better, " Nate replied, voice tense. "Faster, Alex!"

"I'm trying, Nate!" I spotted a narrow side road. "Hang on!" I turned the wheel hard to the left, but the truck rammed into the jeep again, sending us out of control.

I groaned as I pulled myself from the wreckage. Nate got to his feet beside me, rubbing at his head.

I stared at the totaled jeep. "I don't think we're getting our deposit back." We both looked up as the armored truck swerved into the alley. "C'mon we've got to move!" We ran down the alley as the truck followed, crashing through the wrecked jeep.

"Don't they ever give up?" Nate shouted in exasperation. He pulled the AK-47 off his back and fired at the truck as we ran. Finally the truck exploded, overturning and sliding to a stop.

I bent over double, gasping for breath. "That was a bit close for comfort."

"Nothing like a bit of adrenaline to get the blood pumping," Nate joked, though he too was breathing heavily.

I huffed. "At the rate we're going, I'm surprised either of us has any adrenaline left. C'mon, let's keep moving." We reached the end of the alley and looked around. The street was just as much of a mess as the rest of the city.

"Okay...The Old Market…" Nate mumbled to himself as he took out the map to examine it. "...ought to be this way." Suddenly, voices sounded from the alley we had just come from. "Crap." We ran across the street to hide behind a low wall. I slowly peaked my head out as guards patrolled the street, presumably looking for us. The guards were distracted from their search when a bus came speeding by and crashed further up the street.

I turned to Nate and shrugged. "Well, when life gives you lemons…" We used the distraction of the bus to take out the guards.

"Okay, now we just gotta find Chloe."

"Assuming she didn't double-cross us again," I muttered.

"She didn't double-cross us," Nate defended. "She was just...keeping us appearances."

I rolled my eyes, but refrained from commenting. "C'mon, let's just go find your girlfriend." We made our way through the streets and climbed through broken, crumbling houses when our way was blocked. We rounded a corner and accidentally stumbled upon a company of soldiers. We ducked in cover and began taking the soldiers out one by one.

"Oh, no," Nate groaned when another military truck with a machine gun mounted on the back blocked our way forward.

"We've got to take out that gun!" I shouted to Nate, shooting a couple guards.

"I'm open to suggestions!" Before I could reply, a rocket suddenly hit the truck, causing it to explode, taking the rest of the guards with it. I spun around, gun ready, too see Chloe standing on top of a nearby car, rocket launcher balanced on her shoulder.

"Seems like I am always saving your ass," the Brit teased.

"Well, it is an ass worth saving," Nate quipped in reply as he walked over to her. I huffed and holstered my weapon. Chloe laughed and jumped on Nate as he approached, wrapping her legs around him.

"Oh - is that an ancient Tibetan ritual dagger in your pocket?" Chloe inquired flirtatiously. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"Well, maybe I'm just happy to see you." Chloe hummed. Nate let her down and she pulled the Phurba out of his pocket. "Hello."

"So this is the key to everything?" Chloe asked.

Nate nodded. "Yes it is. Marco Polo's 'passport' to Shambhala."

"What do we do with it?"

Nate grinned. "Ah! I -"

"He has no idea," I cut in. I was getting tired of them forgetting I was there.

Chloe turned to me and raised a brow. "And you do?"

"No."

"Maybe we don't," Nate agreed, taking the Phurba back from Chloe. "But I do know that Lazarevic won't get very far without it."

"I wouldn't underestimate him, you know," Chloe warned. I ignored her and grabbed the Phurba from Nate and started examining it. I looked to the temple we just so happened to be in front of and noticed something. "He and Flynn have been tearing this city apart." I titled my head slightly, looking back and forth between the Phurba and the Temple. "They must've leveled dozens of temples already. So, what's our next move?" I tensed slightly as I felt Nate come up behind me.

"What'd ya find, Alex?" Nate asked. I heard Chloe sigh heavily and mumble something about there being two of them before she walked over to join us.

"I think I figured out how Marco Polo found his next clue," I announced. "You see this symbol?" I pointed to the symbol engraved on the Phurba. Nate looked over my shoulder at the symbol with interest.

"Yeah…" Chloe drawled, clearly not as interested as Nate.

"Look up there." I pointed to the temple where a similar symbol was carved into the arched wall above us. Nate took the Phurba from me to examine himself as Chloe gave me an unimpressed look.

"Ok, I see the resemblance… So what does it mean?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. This was going to be a long day. "It means that the temple we're looking for is going to be marked with the same emblem as the one on the Phurba."

Nate gave a hearty laugh. "Alex, you're a genius!" He pressed a quick kiss to the side of my head and hurried over to a car, using the hood as a table to spread out the map. "Now all we have to do is find it."

"You do realize there are literally hundreds of these temples throughout the city?" Chloe pointed out. I ignored the feeling bubbling in my chest and walked over to look at the map.

"Yes, but if we found a higher vantage point…"

"We can spot our needle in the haystack," Chloe finished, giving Nate an affectionate pat on the cheek. "There's a hotel not far from here…" I pretended not to notice and examined the map as Nate cast a nervous glance my way.

"Chloe, no offense, but now is not the time," he said, his voice low, as if I wouldn't hear him despite the fact that I was standing right next to him.

"It's easily the tallest building in the city," Chloe said flatly. I bit my bottom lip to keep from smiling as Nate cleared his throat.

"Right. Right, well, okay - that's uh, that's good thinking."

"Follow me."

"Yep." I rolled my eyes and followed after the two.


	6. Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is here my friends! Please read and enjoy. I wish you all a happy early Thanksgiving!

We made our way through the wrecked city, climbing through buildings when the street was blocked. Eventually we came across a courtyard where dozens of guards were patrolling outside another temple. Chloe, Nate, and I took cover behind a couple of statues on the edge of the courtyard.

"I don't like these odds," Nate whispered. I had to agree with him. There were a good couple dozen guards at least, most likely more.

"No?" Chloe questioned. She didn't sound very concerned.

"No, I think maybe we should cut over to the hotel a different way," Nate suggested, looking out from behind our cover as he tried to work out a different route. "Just avoid this crew altogether." He turned to look at Chloe for her opinion only to find her holding a grenade. "I'm sorry, do you have a plan to go along with that grenade?"

"Yes I do," Chloe replied confidently. "I'm going to circle around this way and break up their little party."

"What about him?" I asked, gesturing to the guard armed with a rocket launcher standing on a truck nearby. Nate and I had learned from our escapade with El Dorado to take out the guy with the rocket launcher first.

"Well, that's where you two come in, sweetheart," Chloe replied sweetly and I narrowed my eyes at her. "I need you to take care of him. But, ah, do it quietly."

Nate raised a brow. "Do it quietly."

Chloe peaked out from behind her cover as she replied. "Yeah."

"Are you sure about this?"

Chloe tossed the grenade and caught it. "Desperate times right?" She hurried off before either of us could reply.

"What does that mean? Nate said, waving his hands in exasperation.

"She's going to get us killed," I grumbled.

Nate sighed. "C'mon." He crept up to the truck and silently snapped the soldier's neck. An explosion went off and the courtyard erupted into chaos. I ducked in cover and began firing, immediately killing a guard close by. After what felt like forever, we finally took out all the guards around the temple, or so we thought. Yet another military truck came rumbling down the street, another company of guards in the back.

"Oh, crap. Reinforcements," Chloe groaned.

"How many soldiers did he hire?" Nate asked in frustration as we ran for cover again.

I pulled the trigger of my pistol twice, the second shot hitting the intended soldier. "Was that all of them?" I asked as I slowly got to my feet.

Nate sighed heavily. "I think so."

"This is the hotel," Chloe announced, indicating a building next to the temple. "Now we just have to find a way up." We wandered around, looking for any way into the hotel. I went around the side and spotted a thankfully still intact fire escape.

"Hey guys! Over here!" I called. Chloe and Nate jogged over. I gestured to the ladder. "Found a way in. Nate, wanna give me a boost?"

Nate nodded and walked over to stand under the fire escape, holding his hands together. "Sure thing." He lifted me up until I was able to grab the ladder. "Ya got it?"

"Yup." I pulled myself up and kicked the ladder down for the other two. "Come on up." We climbed to the top of the fire escape only to come to a dead end.

"All right, looks clear so far," Chloe said.

"Is there another way in?" Nate asked.

The Brit shook her head. "Not from here." Instead of answering, Nate vaulted over the railing and jumped across to the street light opposite. "Very resourceful."

"Don't wait up," I said as I followed Nate. I jumped onto the roof of the hotel and climbed in through a window on the second floor. At the back of the room, an elevator door dinged, revealing two armed guards.

"Oh, crap!" Nate said. Chloe joined us and we took out the guards.

I wandered over to the elevator and pressed the button. "Going up?" I asked with a smirk. Nate rolled his eyes with a fond smile as he and Chloe walked onto the elevator. The elevator started going up, but suddenly jolted to a halt, knocking me off balance. Thankfully, Nate caught me before I could hurt myself and I found a light blush rising to my cheeks.

"Oh, well, that was unpleasant," Chloe commented as Nate set me upright.

"They must've hit a generator," Nate mused. "Gimme a hand." Chloe and I helped Nate pry the elevator doors open. He maneuvered himself in between the doors to get better leverage when there was an ominous creaking.

"Nate, move!" Chloe quickly shoved Nate out of the elevator just as the doors slammed shut. I heard a grunt on the other side then a deep sigh.

"It's no good - I'm gonna have to fix the power to get you guys out," Nate informed us. "You two gonna be okay?"

Chloe nodded with a heavy sigh even though Nate couldn't see us. "Yeah. Wish I'd brought something to read."

"We'll live. Just hurry up and get us out of here." I replied, a little tense at the idea of being alone with Chloe.

"Looks like the circuit breaker's on the top floor," Nate said. "Just sit tight - I'll take care of it."

"Not like we have much of a choice," I muttered. With a huff, I sat down, leaning my back against the glass window of the elevator.

"So, you haven't changed much since we last met," Chloe said.

"Neither have you," I retorted. I crossed my arms and leaned my head back against the window. "Still charming as ever I see."

Chloe scoffed and crossed her arms. "You're just mad cause your boyfriend came crawling back to me."

"Okay, first off, you came to us, he did not come 'crawling back'," I snapped, using air quotes. "And two, Nate and I weren't together, so sorry to burst your bubble but you didn't break us up. I'm still his best friend."

"And it seems that's all you'll ever be to him."

I looked back out the elevator window. "I accepted that a long time ago." I glanced at the Brit out of the corner of my eye. "But I have been by his side for nineteen years, I'm a permanent part of his life, unlike you. You hop in and out like a jackrabbit." I felt a small bit of self satisfaction as Chloe's smug smile disappeared. I turned back to the window and watched as some resistance fighters ran by on the street below.

"Nate's love life aside, you do realize for this work that we need to work together right?" Chloe asked as casually as if we were talking about the weather.

I tensed my jaw and met her gaze steadily. "I'm aware, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to keep an eye on you. I don't trust you."

Chloe's eyes narrowed. "Keep an eye on me? Do you have any idea what I'm putting on the line working with you two? If Lazarevic were to find out -"

"And there it is," I cut in with a sweep of my hand. "Always so worried about yourself. Y'know, I never knew what Nate saw in you the first time. Maybe it was because you were one of the few women not to be intimidated by his close relationship with me, I don't know. He's a big boy and I can't dictate who he chooses to go out with, all I can do is offer advice and hope his stubborn culo (butt) takes it. But..." I got to my feet and brushed my pants off. "Unlike you, I'll always be there for him. I pray to God I'm there to pick up the pieces when whatever you two got going on comes back to bite Nate in the butt, because it will. You'll drop out of his life just like before regardless whether he walks away this time or you because you only care about yourself." Choe stared at me, her expression impassive. The tension was so thick one could almost cut it with a knife. My shoulders heaved from my rant. I had been wanting to say that to her for a long time, though honestly I was expecting more of a reaction from her. Maybe she was just in shock that someone finally had the guts to call her out. Thankfully, the elevator jolting into moving again kept either of us from doing something we would probably later regret. I stalked out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened. "Took you long enough."

Nate shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, had a few hiccups." He seemed to notice my agitated state and gave me a concerned look. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I told him curtly, brushing him off. He didn't look convinced and I wasn't surprised, he knew me too well. Thankfully, he didn't comment and brushed past me. "Let's keep moving." Chloe shoved past my shoulder, not even looking in my direction as she followed Nate. I took a deep, calming breath. I had promised myself back in that Turkish hellhole they call a prison that I wouldn't let Nate's choice in women get in the way, but Chloe was really pushing the boundaries.

Nate led the way to a ladder around the corner and gave Chloe a boost. "Up she goes."

"Oh, I think you're liking this a bit too much," Chloe flirted as she climbed up the ladder. I tensed my jaw, a vein popping in my forehead. I was trying my darndest to ignore her obvious advances towards my best friend and do my job, but she was really testing my limits. And she knew it too if the smirk she sent me was anything to go by. A moment later, she kicked the ladder down and Nate and I followed her up on the roof. I blinked in the bright sunlight, working my way around the rooftop swimming pool. I stood on the edge of the roof, gazing out at the city. I'm sure months ago, before Lazarevic and his goons tore the place up, the city was beautiful. Now, all I could see was crumbling buildings and a few smoke plumes from still burning structures. Nate came to stand beside me, taking in the view.

"Must've been something in its day, huh?" He said wistfully. I hummed in agreement. Feeling the need to let out some pent up frustration, an idea popped into my head and I glanced sideways at my best friend, a mischievous smile tugging at my lips. The brunette noticed and looked at me, giving a slightly nervous laugh. "What is it?" As an answer, I shoved him, hard. Nate stumbled back a couple steps then yelped when he lost his footing and fell into the pool. I couldn't help it, I busted out laughing. Nate came up spluttering as I doubled over, clutching my stomach.

"I'm - I'm sorry!" I wheezed, trying hard to get air into my lungs while tears slid down my cheeks from laughing so hard. "I couldn't resist!" Nate chuckled as he swam to the edge of the pool.

"Well, why don't you come join me?" Before I could register the mischievous tone in his voice, Nate had reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling me in with him. I gasped as my head broke the surface and shook the water from my eyes. Nate laughed heartily and I couldn't help but join in. With tensions running high, it felt good to let loose, even just for a few minutes.

"Anyone up for a game of Marco Polo?" I asked with a grin, earning another laugh from Nate.

"Really?" Chloe huffed as she stood off to the side with her arms crossed, looking like an exasperated mother.

"Come on," Nate urged happily.

"No."

"Marco." We both stared expectantly at the Brit.

Chloe sighed heavily. "Polo…"

"Yes!" I cheered, throwing my arms in the air. I swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out, wringing out my hair.

"Fish outta water!" Nate laughed as he climbed out after me.

"You two are so unprofessional," Chloe muttered.

"You knew what you were getting into when you came to us," I told her. Nate chuckled as he led the way to the highest point of the hotel.

"Well, here we are."

"Now we just gotta find the right temple." Nate pulled out his binoculars. I looked around the city and even without the binoculars I could see several temples.

"That's probably going to be easier said than done," I said.

"I know, tell me about it," Nate agreed. "Maybe we can - oh. Bingo." He pointed to one particular temple in the middle of the city as he passed the binoculars to me. "There it is." Sure enough, the symbol on the temple matched the one on the Phurba. Well that was easy. Now to get over there without getting spotted. Fat chance.

"That's the one?" Chloe asked as she looked through the binoculars.

"Yeah, it's gotta be."

"The one in the middle of all the gunfire and explosions."

Nate took the binoculars back. "Lucky us."

"Nate, that's right where Lazarevic is camped," Chloe pointed out, as if we could help where the temple was located. "I was hoping we'd be heading in the opposite direction."

"Well, desperate times, right?" Nate said, repeating her words from earlier. The radio on Chloe's belt crackled and she took it out, turning the dial.

" _Drake and King have been spotted in sector eighteen,_ " Lazarevic announced over the radio.

"Ah, crap," Nate groaned. "Any chance this is sector nineteen?" Two military helicopters appeared and began sweeping the city as Lazarevic ordered a citywide manhunt.

"And that's our cue," I said. Using a conveniently placed zipline, we swung down to a building below. We stopped when we came to a broken bridge.

"Damn it," Chloe cursed. "How the hell do we get across?"

"We could use that," I suggested, pointing out the thin beam holding the bridge together.

Chloe gave me a skeptical look. "Are you sure that will hold our weight?"

I shrugged. "No, but we don't exactly have a lot of options right now."

"I'll go first," Nate volunteered. He climbed up and began shimmying his way across.

"Oh God, be careful," Chloe warned. Just as she finished saying this, one of the helicopters suddenly flew around the corner.

"Holy crap!" The copter opened fire on the bridge and I screamed Nate's name as the rain of bullets shattered the already fragile wood, causing the bridge to collapse. Nate grabbed hold of the small platform jutting out from the side of the building and I reached forward to try and grab him.

"Nate, take my hand!" I called, ducking as I tried to avoid the barrage of bullets.

"Just go!" Nate shouted in reply as he struggled to pull himself up.

"But -"

"GO!" I growled in frustration, but stood up and ran, trusting he would follow. I jumped across the platforms lining the side of the building, following Chloe who was already several platforms ahead. The last platform creaked dangerously as I landed and jumped to the next rooftop. I quickly ducked behind a stone planter to avoid the guards occupying the rooftop. I glanced back the way we had come to see Nate land on the last platform and have it collapse under his weight. I turned my attention back to the firefire, firing a couple rounds over the top of my cover and smiling in satisfaction as I heard one shot hit its mark. Nate landed next to me a moment later.

"Glad you could join us," I quipped.

"Party don't start till I walk in," Nate replied cheekily, shooting another soldier. "Come on, we got to keep moving." We jump to another rooftop, dropping through a hole in the roof to escape the copter still shooting at us. As we were running, an explosion ripped through the wall, knocking Nate to the ground and causing me to stumble. Through the hole, I could see the helicopter.

"Get up, Nate!" Chloe urged. Nate rolled out of the way of the gunfire and we took shelter behind a wall. "You okay?"

"Yeah, never better," Nate replied bitterly. We dashed past the hole in the wall, ducking to avoid the barrage of bullets still coming from the helicopter that just didn't seem to want to give up. Taking out some more soldiers, we continued down a set of stairs into a large office space. I was knocked to the ground this time as the copter blew out another wall. "What the hell are they doin'?"

"I get the feeling they may be trying to kill us or something," I sniped as Nate helped me to my feet.

"This isn't good…" Chloe said ominously.

I snapped my head to her. "Really, cause I thought we were having the time of our lives." Chloe's reply was cut off and the copter fired several more missiles at the building, causing it to rock dangerously.

"Ah, crap!" Nate cried as the floor beneath us began to give way. The building swayed and tilted forward. "Whoa!" A string of various Italian curses fell from my lips as the building fell and collided with the building next to it. "Jump!" The three of us jumped through the glass window of the next building just before the one we were just in collapsed. Nate gave a hysterical chuckle, hands on his knees as he tried to collect his breath. "We were - we were almost in that."

"I'd like a refund on my room per favore (please)," I panted from my place on the ground. "The room service was awful."

"Come one then," Nate said, reaching down to pull me to my feet. "Let's go find the manager so we can file a complaint."

"Guess we caught this hotel in the down season, huh?" Chloe added as we trudged up a nearby stairwell.

Nate rolled his eyes and laughed dryly. "Haha, come on." We reached the rooftop and after taking care of yet more soldiers came across a narrow bridge. "A bridge. Sweet." Using the handle on the side, he lowered the mechanical bridge.

"Yeah, tell me about it. The resistance fighters built them to get across the rooftops," Chloe informed us.

"Lucky us." We crossed the bridge and of course ran into more soldiers.

"Nate, look out!" Chloe called as Nate jumped to the next rooftop. The helicopter was back.

"Get down!" Nate shouted, ducking behind some cover as the copter opened fire.

"There has got to be a way to take that thing out!" I growled. I looked around desperately for anything to help my best friend. I grinned when I spotted a useful tool. "Nate! Grenade launcher to your right!" The treasure hunter looked to where I indicated and quickly snatched up the grenade launcher. He fired several grenades at the helicopter, switching covers multiple times as the copter tried to get a good angle. Finally, he fired one more grenade and the copter spun out of control, crashing in the streets below.

"Down she goes!" Nate cheered and I whooped in triumph.

"Wahoo! Okay, lower the bridge!" Chloe said. Nate lowered the bridge to the next rooftop as we joined him.

"Hey that wire, that's our way down," Nate said, indicating a zipline connecting to the building across. "Go! Go!"

"All right. All right." Chloe went first, then me, Nate following close behind. Unfortunately, the wire snapped as Nate slid down. I let out a yelp as I fell, fingers just brushing the window ledge. Somehow, I managed to catch the wire and jerked to a stop, groaning as my shoulder was nearly yanked out of its socket. Nate was not so lucky, the sudden collision with the wall causing him to let go of the wire and crash to the ground. I slipped the rest of the way down, my hands stinging slightly at the roughness of the wire.

"You okay?" I asked as I leaned over my best friend.

"Oh, God that hurts…" He groaned.

"I'm gonna find another way down," Chloe informed us from the window two stories above us as I helped Nate to his feet.

I patted his shoulder once I was satisfied he hadn't severely injured himself. "Come on, Humpty Dumpty. Let's keep moving." Using some piping sticking out from the side of the crumbling building, we climbed over the crashed helicopter and into the alley beyond. Nate suddenly pressed against the wall, bringing me with him. I was about to ask what the problem was, but he held a finger to his lips and pulled out his gun. Peaking around him, I could just make out the shadow of a man standing around the corner. I drew my own gun and nodded when Nate glanced at me. Both of us turned the corner, guns aimed at the man.

"Whoa! Hey - hey - don't shoot!" The man cried in alarm, holding his hands up in surrender, one of which held a camera.

"Hey!" A woman's voice called. Nate and I switched our guns to the newcomer, but faltered when we saw who it was. "Nate, Alex…? What the hell are you two doing here?"

"Elena?" Nate echoed, equally as confused. I returned my pistol to my thigh holster seeing as we weren't in any current danger. Suddenly, the man tackled Nate to the ground.

"Jeff, don't -!"

"Wait, you know these two?" The newly named Jeff inquired, glancing at the blonde in surprise.

Elena sighed. "Yeah." She held out a hand and pulled Jeff to his feet. "This is Drake and King." I gave a two fingered salute as she said my name.

"Oh. Sorry." Jeff held out his hand to help Nate, but Nate motioned that he was okay. I walked around him and embraced my only female friend.

"Good to see you again, Elena. It's been too long," I told her, smiling.

Elena smiled back. "It has. You two still getting into trouble?"

I huffed in fake offense, hands on my hips. "You make it sound like we go looking for trouble."

"Maybe you don't," the blonde shrugged. "But you two are definitely danger magnets."

I chuckled. "Alright, touche."

"So what's your angle on all this misery?" Elena questioned. "You gonna plunder a few temples? Loot the museum?"

"It's nice to see you, too," Nate grumbled as he got to his feet, brushing himself off. Elena pulled out a small pocketbook and flipped through it. "I suppose you're here for some noble crusade, right?" I shot my best friend a glare at his tone.

"Actually, we're trailing a fugitive war criminal - Zoran Lazarevic," Elena corrected. "Have you ever heard of him?" Nate and I glanced at each other. This was not good.

"I thought that was NATO's job," I deflected, avoiding the question.

"Well, they think he's dead - killed in some bombing raid."

"Oh, and you're here to prove otherwise," Nate guessed.

"Y'know what? This guy's a real monster, Nate," Elena shot back. "We're talking tortue, mutilation, mass executions… But see, now he's - he's plotting something new… But why out here? Why - why tear apart the city, y'know? It just doesn't make any sense…" Nate merely shrugged in response and Elena narrowed her eyes at him. She turned to me looking for answers, but I had suddenly become occupied in removing a loose thread from my shirt sleeve. I could practically hear the gears turning in that journalist mind of hers. She took a step back as she started putting pieces together. "Oh... no - tell me you two don't have anything to do with this."

Nate gave a nervous laugh. "That's ridiculous -"

"There you two are," Chloe interrupted as she ran up. "I think I lost them -" Spotting Elena and Jeff, she pulled out her gun.

"Easy there, Chloe," I said, lowering her gun. "They're just journalists." Chloe glanced at me before putting away her gun.

"Well, we need to keep moving, if we want to stay one step ahead of Lazarevic, so -"

"Oh, man, Nate, Alex…" Elena groaned.

"Hey, wait, wait - now don't jump to conclusions, Elena," Nate said defensively.

"Uh, I'm sorry, am I sensing some history here?" Chloe asked with a laugh, gesturing between Nate and Elena.

"Oh, Elena Fisher," Elena introduced, walking forward to shake Chloe's hand. "Last year's model."

Nate rolled his eyes, hands on his hips. "Haha - that's cute." Chloe laughed and he grabbed her arm, dragging her aside with me following. "No. No. I'm glad you find this so funny."

"Well, it's just I never figured you for the white-bread, picket-fence type," Chloe responded cheekily.

"She's a lot tougher than she looks, thank you," Nate snapped. He shot a glance my way. "And I'm not." I blinked, not sure what to make of that. I shook my head to get back to the matter at hand.

"Nate's type is irrelevant right now," I said. I turned to my best friend, ignoring Chloe for now. "Nate, non possiamo lasciarli qui. Devono venire con noi." (Nate, we can't leave them here. They need to come with us.) Nate glanced at Chloe, then back at me, probably wondering why I had switched to Italian.

"Stanno bene," (They'll be fine) he assured me, but he sent a skeptical look over his shoulder at the two journalists.

"Elena forse, ma Jeff non mi sembra il tipo di combattimento," (Elena maybe, but Jeff doesn't look like the fighting type to me) I countered. "Sappiamo entrambi come Elena può ottenere. Se la lasciamo esplorare da sola, finirà per portarli entrambi sopra le loro teste." (You and I both know how Elena can get. If we leave her to explore on her own, she's going to wind up getting them both way over their heads.) Nate sighed heavily, hands on his hips. He knew I was right. Chloe looked back and forth between us, not having understood a word.

"Does someone want to clue me in on what's going on?" She said, sounding a tad annoyed.

Nate glanced at Chloe for a moment. "Non le piacerà." (She's not going to like this.)

I scoffed, crossing my arms. "Da quando mi sono mai preoccupato di ciò che piace alla tua ragazza?" (Since when have I ever been concerned about what your girlfriend likes?) Nate stared at me, hurt shining in his blue eyes.

Chloe stuck her hands on her hips. "Can someone please translate for those of us who don't speak Italian." I nodded my head in her direction, urging Nate to tell her our decision.

"Uh, they're coming with us," Nate finally answered.

Chloe blinked. "You can't be serious."

"Yeah, I am," he said firmly. "We can't just ditch them in the middle of this mess."

"They're only going to slow us down," the Brit argued. "And if we get caught -"

"Chloe -"

"If Lazarevic catches you and me together -"

"I'm not leaving them behind," Nate stated stiffly.

"You don't always have to play the bloody hero, you know." I finally had enough of her attitude.

"You're right, we don't. But if we don't, who will?" I countered angrilly. "If you're so worried about getting caught hanging around us, nothing is stopping you from leaving, but they're coming with us. End of discussion." I turned to go tell Elena only to find her walking over, looking a little miffed.

"We don't need saving, Alex," she said shortly.

"Thank you," Chloe said and I shot her a glare. A deep humming caught our attention and we all turned to see another helicopter hovering nearby.

"You might want to rethink that," Nate corrected.

Chloe cursed. "Run!"


	7. Location, Location, Location

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry it took me longer to get this chapter out. Anways, hope you like it. One with the show!

So after a couple inevitable gunfights and crossing a river, we finally made it to the actual temple.

"How bout that, huh?" Nate said with a grin as we all walked up the stone steps.

"You brought us right to the doorstep," Chloe agreed, causing Nate to chuckle.

"So I'm guessing it's not a coincidence that we ended up here," Elena spoke, perceptive as always. Jeff stood next to her, camera resting on his shoulder as he stared up at the temple. I was going to be surprised if that camera made it to the end of this in one piece.

"Ah, no, not exactly," Nate replied sheepishly.

"Gosh, you're an ass."

I chuckled. "Now I remember why we became friends."

Elena just rolled her eyes and continued. "Okay, just what is it you're after, anyways?"

Nate pointed to the giant symbol above the temple entrance. "See that symbol up there? It's called the Cintamani Stone." Chloe called Nate, but he either didn't hear her or was completely ignoring her. I for one, was simply ignoring her. "It's a massive raw sapphire. It's worth millions. "

"So, let me get this straight - you're competing with a psychopathic war criminal for a mythological gemstone," Elena summed up, giving Nate and I an unimpressed look.

"When you put it that way, it does sound pretty stupid," Jeff snickered. My lips twitched as I tried to hide a smile. I had to admit, it did sound stupid. Then again, we did find El Dorado, and while it wasn't a city of gold like the legends claimed, it was real. So who's to say there can't be a giant mythological gemstone?

"Thanks, for the input, Jeff," Nate snapped sarcastically, obviously not finding it as funny.

"And it's supposedly in this temple?" Elena continued.

I chuckled and leaned an arm on the blonde's shoulder. "Oh, Elena, I thought you knew us better than that then to expect it to be that easy." Once again Chloe attempted to get our attention, but we continued to ignore her.

"Well, if it's not here then where is it?"

"Shambhala," I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Elena blinked. "Shambhala?"

"Yeah - y'know, Shangri-La," Nate supplied. Finally having enough, Chloe walked over and grabbed Nate's hands.

"Can I have a word with you, darling?" The Brit asked in a sickly sweet tone. She pulled him over to the temple door, away from Elena, Jeff, and I. However, before she could say anything, we caught the tell tale humming of the helicopter. "On second thought, perhaps we should continue this conversation inside."

"Good idea," Nate agreed. "C'mon." He and Chloe pushed open the doors, allowing Elena, Jeff, and I to walk in. "All right, we should be safe in here, for now."

"This just doesn't add up," Elena mused, looking between Nate and I. "Lazaravic can't be after the money. He doesn't need it. You're missing something." Nate and I glanced at each other. Before she could elaborate, Chloe grabbed Nate by his shoulder holster and me by the back of my shirt and started dragging us towards the inner doors.

"Come on, we haven't got all day," she said in a clipped tone. "You two stay here."

"Promise me you'll stay put," Nate called back to the two journalists. "We'll be right back." Chloe quickly closed the doors behind us.

* * *

"This is definitely the right temple," Nate announced as we entered a large open space with a pool in the middle. At the back of the temple was a large, six armed statue.

I craned my neck to look up at the weird statue. "Wow."

"Get a load of him…" Chloe murmured.

"I don't know about you guys, but that certainly appears to resemble the Cintamani Stone," I noted, pointing to the giant blue sphere the statue was holding with its bottom two arms.

"There must be a hidden entrance here somewhere," Nate mused. "Wait, I've seen this guy before." He pulled out his journal and flipped through until he found the page he was looking for. I wandered over and peered around his shoulder. I glanced back and forth between the statue and Nate's notes, searching for potential clues. Suddenly, I noticed something different.

"The arms are in different positions." Nate furrowed his brows in thought and looked up at the statue then back down at his notebook.

"Huh, you're right. So, we move the arms then?"

I shrugged. "Might as well give it a shot. You take right, I take left?" Nate nodded and we went our respective ways. I climbed to the statue via a crumbling walkway and shifted the top arm into position. By the time I got back down to the ground, Nate had shifted one of the arms on his side and was moving to the second one holding the dagger. If I remembered correctly, that arm needed to cross the statue's body. "Careful up there, Nate," I warned, watching as he prepared himself to jump.

"I got it," he replied confidently. He jumped and grabbed onto the hand holding the dagger, causing it to lower into position. Nate yelped as he lost his grip, falling onto the lower right hand of the statue, then hitting the ground.

"You all right?" Chloe asked.

"I'm okay," Nate groaned. I walked over and grabbed his arm to help him up.

"You really have a nasty habit of falling off things," I commented. "It's a miracle you don't have brain damage."

Nate rolled his eyes. "Ha ha very funny." He was distracted as the orb the statue was holding opened, revealing what looked like a mouth. "Wait a minute…"

"What is it?" Chloe asked as Nate took the Phurba out of his pocket.

"This isn't just a dagger. It's a key." I looked a bit more closely at the mouth and found he was right. There appeared to be some sort of hole shaped like the Phurba in the center of the mouth.

Chloe smirked. "Hmm...well, let's find out what it opens."

Nate passed the Phurba to me. "Want to do the honors?" I smiled and took the dagger, climbing up to the mouth.

"Say 'ahhh'," I muttered before slotting the Phurba into the keyhole. I pulled the Phurba out, turned it clockwise and pushed in the first section, hearing a rumbling as I did so. I repeated this gesture twice more, first counterclockwise then clockwise again, once again hearing gears turning each time. I pulled the Phurba back out and looked down at my two companions. "Did that do anything?" I heard a rush of water.

"The water's going down," Chloe announced, jumping down into the now empty pool. "And...I found the door it opened. We've done it!"

"Technically Nate and I did it," I grumbled.

"We'll be right there," Nate called. I glanced down to see he was still standing below me and grinned.

"Nate, catch!"

"Wha - oof!" He grunted as he caught me in his arms.

"Thanks!" I said cheerfully, hopping out of his arms and patting his cheek playfully.

Nate rolled his eyes with a fond smile. "You are such a child."

I grinned back cheekily. "I learned from the best." The two of us joined Chloe at the secret doorway.

"Whaddya think? You game?" The Brit asked as she poked her head through the small opening.

"Ladies first," Nate replied.

"Go ahead, Chloe," I urged with a sweep of my arm.

Chloe glanced back at me with a raised eyebrow. "Aren't you a lady?"

"I've never been one to be ladylike."

Chloe shook her head. "If you say so." She climbed in, and Nate and I followed her through a narrow, stone stairway.

"Thank God I'm not claustrophobic," Nate mumbled. I hummed in agreement. The stairway ended in a long empty tunnel. We sloshed through the water flowing through the bottom of the tunnel until we came to a large pile of rocks blocking the rest of the tunnel.

"You're not going to get us trapped in a small dark space thirty metres underground, are you?" Chloe asked apprehensively as Nate began climbing the rocks.

"Most likely," I replied, following. "It's more or less a given at this point."

"Hey, I've always gotten us out," Nate argued.

"No, I'm usually the one to get us out," I corrected.

"It's a little bit of a drop," Nate warned as I climbed over the other side. I hit the ground with a grunt and stumbled slightly, the drop having been longer than I expected. Nate steadied me and I raised an unamused brow at him.

"Little drop?" I inquired.

He rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish chuckle. "Yeah, maybe I underestimated." I rolled my eyes and continued along the tunnel, not bothering to wait for Chloe. Further down there was a carving of the tree of life.

"Whaddya make of this?" Chloe asked, inspecting the carving.

Nate leaned forward to see the carving better. "Looks like some kinda tree."

"And… what's that got to do with the Cintamani Stone?"

Nate shrugged. "Ya got me." I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. While I was just as clueless as my companions, I had no doubt this carving meant something. I decided to file it away for later, we had much more pressing matters to attend to. We moved on and the tunnel opened up a bit. In the distance we could see a large room with light shooting upwards. Unfortunately, before we got the chance to get closer, the floor opened up, dropping the three of us into a room filled with water below.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Chloe groaned as the ceiling above us closed.

"Oh, c'mon, could be worse, right?" Nate laughed nervously. Just as he finished saying this, dozens of spikes popped out of the ceiling and slowly began to descend. "Okay, that's worse."

I shot a glare at my best friend. "Nate! How many times have I told you to not say something can get worse, because it can always get worse!"

"Sorry!" I glanced around frantically. There had to be a way out! I spotted a spinning wheel mechanism on the wall and grinned. Quickly, I whipped out my gun and started shooting the spikes on the wheel, breaking them off. Nate gave a hoot as the ceiling started ascending again.

"You did it!" I blew the imaginary smoke from the barrel of my gun and returned it to its holster.

"What did I say? You get us into messes and I get us out."

Nate chuckled warmly. "Yes you do. C'mon, let's get the hell out of here."

"Sorry, my life is still flashing before me," Chloe commented, causing Nate to laugh and me to smile slightly. The three of us climbed through a new opening and up a set of stairs. Turning a corner, we stopped dead at the sight of a huge dagger in the middle of an even larger hall. As we entered the hall, the blades of the dagger opened and raised to the sides.

"Dio mio!" I gasped, taking in the sight.

"Well, this must be the place," Nate commented, stopping next to me.

"Hey, that thing looks familiar," Chloe noted, staring at the giant dagger.

"Yeah, it looks like the Phurba dagger," Nate agreed. I walked further into the hall. Below the dagger was a statue of a man. On a landing below me was a mirror of some sort with a beam of light bouncing off it. I quickly evaluated the room as I walked down to the mirror. Nate knew well my look of concentration and followed behind me. "Whatchya got, Alex?" I didn't answer, instead shifting the mirror so the beam of light bounced off the head of a face across the hall. Immediately, the eyes of the face lit up and I grinned.

"We have to use these mirrors to bounce the light around the room," I announced, gesturing to the other mirrors lining the hall.

"Good work!" Nate praised with a clap to my back as he hurried over to the lit up face and placed the dagger inside. With a loud crack evident of its disuse, one of the blades of the giant dagger lowered back into place.

"What do you reckon, we're gonna have to climb that thing?" Chloe questioned, staring up at the tall blade.

"I reckon _I'm_ gonna have to climb that thing," Nate corrected, hands on his hips.

"Nate, please be careful," I warned. I nervously nibbled my thumb nail as Nate clambered up the side of the dagger blade. Once at the top, he tightrope walked his way along one of the still raised blades and jumped onto the eye of a giant face carved into the wall. He grabbed the eyebrow and it lowered, opening a third eye in the middle of the face's forehead and allowing another beam of light to shine through. I didn't let out the breath I wasn't aware of holding until Nate was safely on the ground again. Unfortunately, he had to do that twice more. Chloe and I ran around the room, adjusting the mirrors as needed. I nearly had a heart attack when the third blade broke underneath him. Thankfully, he was able to grab hold of the remaining part. Unable to open the final face's third eye via conventional means, he shot it instead. He had to jump and grab onto a nearby lantern as the blade he was on shifted. I adjusted the last reflector and Nate unlocked the final face. The third and final blade lowered into place and the entire Phurba stabbed down into the chest of the statue built across the floor. The statue's mouth opened, revealing a previously hidden ladder.

"So, the secret of Shambhala is down this guy's throat?" Chloe asked, her nose scrunched in disgust.

"I guess so," Nate said as he joined us.

"Well, this is what we came here for, let's not waste anymore time shall we," I said. I climbed onto the statue's face and started down the ladder, the other two following after. The next room we found ourselves in was much smaller. There was a raised stone just inside the room with a hole shaped like the Phurba. Nate looked at me and smiled excitedly. I gestured to it and he inserted the dagger. A rocky structure rose out of the floor in front of us, forming what appeared to be a mountain range. The beam of light hit at a spot somewhere on the side of the largest peak.

"That's amazing," Chloe commented in awe.

Nate laughed in delight. "I know where that is." He took the map out of his pocket. I walked closer and examined the map. "Yeah, it's right here. You see the shape of that peak, there?" He pointed to a point on the map and then the 3D map in front of us. I glanced back and forth between the two. "Which means…" Nate gestured for me to turn around which I did with a roll of my eyes. He took out a pen, pulling off the cap with his teeth as he placed the map against my back. "Which means…the entrance to Shambhala must be right here." I felt him mark a spot on the map. I stood straight again and took the map from him. I smiled at the red 'X' marking our next destination.

"So, did we do it?" Chloe questioned, looking expectantly at the two of us.

Nate nodded, a grin sliding onto his face as he slung an arm around my shoulders. "We did it."

"We did it," I repeated quietly. I looked up at Nate, beaming in excitement. After everything, we finally had our location. Nate gazed at me with a soft look in his blue eyes. Before I could think further, we were interrupted by voices.

"Oh, crap," Nate groaned. I quickly passed the map back to him and grabbed the Phurba from its slot, tucking it into my belt.

"There's only one way outta here - you two ready?" Chloe asked. In answer, I pulled out my pistol.

"Let's go," Nate said, pulling out his own gun.


	8. Fool Me Once

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry this took a while. I was busy on my days off so I'm posting this before work. As usual, I hope you enjoy. Merry Christmas!

Just once I would like to make an archeological discovery without having to immediately evacuate because someone is out to get our heads. After taking out the guards and snipers, we met up with Elena and Jeff outside the temple. Unfortunately, Jeff had gotten hit in the firefight. Nate knelt next to the cameraman and moved his hand to check on the wound. I winced as I spied the gunshot to Jeff's side. That was going to complicate things. Nate quickly assured the cameraman that he was going to be fine, but I could tell by the tone of his voice that he doubted his own words. Nate helped Jeff stand, staggering slightly as the cameraman put most of his weight in him. I hurried over to take Jeff's other arm.

"Chloe, get the door open," Nate urged.

"He's never going to make it, we have to leave him!" Chloe protested.

"What?! No -" Elena shouted.

"We're not going to just leave him here!" I growled, readjusting Jeff's weight as I glared at the Brit. "Now open the door before I use your head as a battering ram!"

Chloe clenched her fists angrily, but kicked the door open anyway. "You're going to get us all killed!"

As we moved through the streets, I slipped from Jeff's side to help Chloe and Elena cover Nate and Jeff. Guards seemed to come from every direction, forcing us to change routes several times to avoid getting shot. We got some reprieve from the barrage of bullets as we entered another building. I kept a careful eye on Nate as he helped Jeff up the stairs. Jeff was really struggling, almost unable to keep his feet under him as Nate practically dragged him along. Chloe and Elena ran into a nearby room once we reached the top of the stairs and I heard Elena curse. Arriving in the room, I could see what the problem was. There was a hole in the wall which led to an alley below. Now, normally that wouldn't be an issue, but glancing back at our wounded companion as Nate slowly set him on the floor, I knew there was no way he would be able to make that jump. I knelt next to the injured cameraman. A quick inspection told me he was going to bleed out if we couldn't stop the bleeding. Wishing I had some gauze, I pressed my hands against Jeff's wound.

"Nate - okay - you tried, but it's over. He can't go any further," Chloe said firmly as she came over. Jeff groaned as I pressed harder against his wound. I muttered a quick apology and shot Chloe a glare from the corner of my eye.

"We can't just leave him here to die!" Nate insisted.

"He is as good as dead already - and so are we if we don't go now!"

"Then go! Don't let us heroes get in the way," I snarled. The Brit glared at me and took a step forward, but stopped at the sound of someone bursting through the door downstairs.

Chloe shook her head and moved towards the door. "I was trying to save your skin, you idiot!" She leveled her gun at Nate who had stood at the disturbance downstairs. Nate stared at her, dumbstruck. Before he could address the situation, Flynn ran into the room, gun drawn. I quickly moved in front of Jeff and drew my own gun.

Flynn glanced between Nate and Chloe, eyes narrowing as he seemed to realize that his 'girlfriend' had just been caught fraternizing with the enemy. "What is this?"

"I'm sorry…" I had to hold back a scoff. Oh she was going to be sorry when I was through with her. Two armed guards ran into the room, aiming their guns at Elena and me.

"Drop the guns," Flynn ordered. None of us moved. "Seriously." With much reluctance, Nate, Elena, and I dropped our guns to the floor. Flynn handed Chloe off to one of the guards. "Get her out of here, she's hurt. Take her to the train." Chloe cast a longing look back at Nate and I sent her the darkest look I could muster. "Unbelievable. You just can't help yourself, can you?"

"Guess that makes us even," Nate replied stiffly.

Flynn smirked. "Not quite." A large man entered the room, the same man we had seen in Borneo. Lazarevic. Seeing the man through binoculars had done little to prepare me for seeing him up close. This man had clearly seen some crap as evidence by the burn that ran along his right arm and up the right side of his face. He stalked over to stand in front of Nate. Now, Nate was around average height, but seeing him next to Lazarevic made him suddenly seem very small.

"So, this little man is Drake, hm?" Lazarevic inquired casually in his thick Serbian accent. He stared down at Nate like a hunter inspecting his kill. He must've felt me boring holes into his bald head because he switched his cold gaze to me. "And Miss King." He approached me and it took all my willpower to hold his gaze. If I thought Nate looked small next to Lazarevic, I could only imagine how I looked. He regarded me with an expression partway between bored and amused. "You seem more like a common thief than a member of royalty." I clenched my fists and tightened my jaw, but refrained from replying. I don't think I'd be able to get away with throwing fists with Lazarevic like I did with Flynn. His mouth quirked in a sinister smirk as he reached forward and pulled the Phurba from my belt. He examined it with mild interest and passed it to the man who had come in with him. He continued his way around behind us, looking down at the barely conscious Jeff. "Did you carry him all the way from the temple? Shame." He pulled out his gun and shot Jeff.

"No!" Elena screeched, starting to kneel down, only to be stopped by Lazarevic. I looked away from Jeff's body sadly. The poor guy probably hadn't even realized what he was getting himself into and now he was dead.

Lazarevic aimed his gun at Elena's head and turned back to Nate. "Now. Tell me what you found in the temple."

"The answer that you're looking for. Okay? I know where the Stone is. But you're not gonna find it without me," Nate said. My eyes widened slightly. What was he doing? "So just - just let them go, and I will lead you right to it." My heart stopped. What was he thinking? He couldn't lead Lazarevic to the Stone! And I'd be dead before I let him deal with Lazarevic alone. Lazarevic considered Elena, using his gun to inspect the ID clipped to her belt.

"Ah. My shadow," he said with a menacing laugh that made me shiver, and not in the good way. "You are the reporter who's been biting at my heels. You better pray that he is not bluffing. Search him." Flynn walked over and riffled through Nate's pockets, grinning when he produced the map he had marked earlier.

Flynn laughed. "That is brilliant, mate. Here." He passed the map to his boss who gave another menacing laugh and held the map in Nate's face.

"It appears you have nothing to bargain with, Mr. Drake." He turned and spoke into his radio. "Return to the staging ground. Prepare to move out." He turned to the man he had passed the Phurba to. "You - come with me." He glanced at Flynn. "You - take care of them."

Flynn grinned wickedly. "No problem." Elena crouched next to Jeff, tears in her eyes.

"How can you work for that monster?" She demanded, her voice wavering slightly.

"Beats working against him, love," Flynn replied easily.

"You're not going to make it to the end of this alive, you know," I told him. "A man like that cares nothing for his underlings. You're just a stepping stone to him. As soon as you no longer serve a purpose, you're dead."

Flynn narrowed his eyes at me. "Well, that's not exactly your problem, is it? I'm handling myself just fine, unlike you three."

"So that's it, huh? You're just going to mow us down in cold blood," Nate fumed, trying to leave only to be stopped by a guard.

"Looks that way, doesn't it?" Flynn didn't even sound the least bit remorseful. He aimed his gun at Elena who was still crouched next to her former partner. "Get up." When Elena didn't move, he repeated the order and grabbed her arm. Without warning, Elena swung her fist into Flynn's face.

"Run!" Nate punched the other guard and we followed Elena out the hole and into the alley. We ran, weaving through buildings and around debris, doing our best to avoid getting shot. Finally, Nate vaulted over a wall, pulling Elena and I with him.

"Get down!" I crouched behind the wall, tucked into Nate's side as I breathed heavily. "You two all right?"

"Yeah, never better," Elena answered, her voice shaky.

"Physically or emotionally, because the second one's up for debate," I replied. "You?"

"Nothing that won't heal." I nodded stiffly. I was a bit pissed at the moment. Actually, I was beyond pissed. I knew we shouldn't have trusted her. Nate carefully peaked out into the alley. "I think we lost 'em."

"I'm sorry about Jeff," I told Elena sadly. "We never should have brought you into this mess."

"You didn't. I got here on my own," Elena sniffed, wiping her eyes. "We knew what the stakes were." I patted her shoulder comfortingly and got to my feet, offering her a hand. "Okay, so, what do we do now?"

"I'm going after her," Nate announced, pulling out another map.

I snapped my head to him, sure I must have heard him wrong because there's no way he was really that stupid. "I'm sorry, you're what now?"

My best friend either ignored me or didn't hear me. "Flynn said something about a train. Which means they would have taken her to the rail yard...here." He set the map on a small table and pointed to the spot. He looked out the hole in the wall, spotting a water tower nearby. "So it should be that way - past the water tower there."

I held my hands up, shaking my head incredulously. Okay, so he was that stupid. "Hold up! You're not seriously telling me that you're going after her, are you? Please tell me you're joking."

Nate met my eyes only for a moment, a clear sign he wasn't entirely sure about his decision. "No, I'm not joking. I'm going after her."

I let out a short, dry laugh in disbelief. "Did you forget that she pulled a gun on us? And I'm pretty sure she would have pulled the trigger too if her back stabbing boyfriend and his psychopathic boss hadn't beaten her to it!"

"It's complicated," Nate tried, now refusing to meet my eyes.

I glared at him, hands on my hips. "Complicated? That's the best you've got? Did you forget Borneo? Did you forget Mexico?" Nate's eyes reluctantly met mine at the mention of our last run in with Chloe. "She has only ever looked out for herself. She's on your side when it suits her needs, but the moment her life is endangered, she'll turn her back."

"Flynn knew she was with us," Nate argued. "If Lazarevic finds out she double-crossed them -"

"She made her choice!" Nate scowled and looked away again. I took a deep breath to calm down. I walked over to my best friend and placed a gentle hand on his cheek, forcing him to meet my eyes. "I know we have a reputation of being heroes, but Chloe made her choice. You need to let her go." So many emotions were swirling in his eyes, he looked so conflicted.

"I have to go after her," he eventually decided. I sighed heavily, lowering my gaze and resting my hand against his chest.

"I know," I whispered. Deep down, I knew that no matter what I said, he would have gone after her. It was his fatal flaw, loyal to a fault. It was one of the things I loved about him. I looked back up into Nate's baby blue eyes. "I hope you know what you're doing."

He gave me a small smile. "I don't have the faintest idea." I let out a ghost of a laugh and lowered my head again.

"Guess some things never change, huh?" Elena said. In my fury with Nate I had nearly forgotten she was there. "If you two are done, we should probably get going."

Nate looked at her in surprise. "What? Oh, no no no - you're not coming with us."

"Nate - shut up, okay? We have a train to catch," Elena said. Nate glanced at me for help, but I merely shrugged and followed the blonde journalist. There was no point in arguing with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The mention of Mexico is a made up adventure. Nate and Alex had a job there and had a run in with Chloe. Let me know what you guys think of the chapter/story.


	9. Bloody Heroics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter my dudes! I hope everyone had a good Christmas! Thank you so much to those who have stuck with this story so far! I hope you have been enjoying it as much as I have writing it. Please read and enjoy this chapter!

After taking out guards lingering around and picking up guns, we made it to the water tower. The three of us crouched low behind a wall and looked down at the trainyard. The place was swarming with soldiers.

"So, you got a Plan 'B'?" Elena inquired.

"I'm working on it," Nate muttered as he scanned the area. He pulled out a pair of binoculars. He pointed to a train car near the front. "There she is. Flynn's got her." From this distance I could just barely make her and Flynn out. Two more figures joined them, one unmistakably Lazaravic and the other his right hand man.

"Second thoughts?"

Nate shook his head. "No. Okay. They're about to take this show on the road, so we're gonna have to move fast. Now I'm going down there alone -"

"Nate -" I began to protest.

"Wait, wait, wait - just listen. You two never listen." I huffed, but stayed quiet. "Meanwhile, you two will go over there, snag us one of those nice-looking -"

"4x4s…" Elena interrupted.

"4x4s... You're gonna be the wheelman, Alex will cover you. I'll sneak in, grab Chloe, and you come in right behind us -"

"- with the getaway car."

"- with the getaway car."

Elena nodded. "Yep, got it. Got it?"

Nate gave her an offended look and I chuckled. "I got it."

"I still don't think this is a good idea," I mumbled.

"I know, but it's the right thing to do," Nate insisted. I didn't share his sentiment, but I was done arguing with him. As much as I hated it, he was going to have to discover the consequences of pursuing a woman like Chloe himself.

I got up to follow Elena. "Try not to draw too much attention."

"Me? Never." I rolled my eyes. I followed Elena as she leapt across to the next rooftop. As I landed the platform attached to the roof collapsed. "You all right?"

"Fine," I called.

"All right, be careful!"

"See you soon! Let's go, Elena." I led the way down a nearby fire escape. Once we reached the bottom, we crouched low behind a wall. I peaked my head around, surveying the area for any passing patrols. Seeing none, I motioned for Elena to follow and we hurried over to the line of 4x4s. We had only just climbed in one when the sound of gunshots reached our ears. Elena and I exchanged knowing looks. I sighed. "So much for sneaking in and out. We'd better go get him before he gets himself shot." Elena started the jeep and stepped on the gas. The tires squealed as we sped off. As we neared the source of the disturbance, I spotted two heavily armed soldiers with chainguns shooting at an overturned train car. Figuring Nate was hunkered down in the train car, I fired a few well placed rounds into the soldiers, downing one and distracting the other.

"Nate!" Elena shouted as she slammed on the brakes.

Nate poked his head up, grinning in relief as he spotted us. "It's about time!"

"I believe I said something about not attracting unwanted attention," I scolded.

"Yeah yeah!" Nate huffed, climbing into the 4x4 beside me. We sped off in a spray of dust as the remaining chaingun soldier began firing again.

"So… you got a 'plan C'?" Elena questioned.

"Yeah, floor it!"

"What?!"

"I'm getting on that train!" Nate declared. I rolled my eyes, not at all surprised.

Elena shot him a shocked look. "What, are you crazy?!"

"Just get me close enough to jump."

"Guess that answers that question."

"We've done worse," I said. "Though I don't like how I wasn't included in 'plan C', because I _know_ you know that you're not going alone." I narrowed my eyes warningly, daring him to argue. He didn't. I gripped the side of the 4x4 tightly as Elena took a sharp turn.

"So how do you plan on getting her off that speeding train?"

"I haven't thought that far ahead," Nate replied sheepishly.

"You never do. I don't know how you ever survived without me," I told him. He shrugged then nearly fell over as Elena shifted gears and sped up to pull alongside the train. Nate and I positioned ourselves to jump, but Elena held us back.

"Now hold on - hold on…"

I looked up and noticed the end of the road fast approaching. "Elena, we don't have much time left."

"Almost there…"

"Elena…"

"Just - Now! Jump!" We jumped, landed hard on the side of the train. In the distance, I heard a screech of brakes and looked back to see the 4x4 slide to a stop just at the edge of a cliff. I turned back to meet Nate's determined gaze. I was against 'rescuing' Chloe and normally would have been happy to leave her to her fate, but I guess there was something about being the bigger person. I nodded to Nate and we climbed onto the train.

"They must have Chloe in the front car," Nate muttered, more to himself.

"We'd better get moving then." We moved from car to car, taking out any guards we came across along the way.

Nate shot a couple soldiers. "Sorry boys, just needed to punch your tickets." Our way forward was halted by a guard on a mounted gun.

I ducked behind a crate to avoid the barrage of bullets. "We need to find another way around or else we'll end up looking like swiss cheese." Nate glanced around then pointed to an opened window behind me.

"That way." I poked my head out the window and looked down at the rapidly moving tracks. I cringed and climbed out of the window and onto the roof. We dropped down behind the mounted gun and took out the guards. "Someone will be along to take your drink order."

"Do you think they have those little bags of pretzels?"

Nate reloaded his gun and sighed. "I hope so, cause after all this, I could use a snack." We pressed forward, passing by a tank on one of the cars.

"What the hell do they need a tank for?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, but I really don't want to find out." We jumped from car to car, alternating from the roof to the side to avoid getting knocked off by the stop lights set along the tracks. After clearing our current carriage of soldiers, we jumped to the next one, which in hindsight looked rather rusted. As soon as we landed, the metal roof collapsed beneath us. I groaned as the air was knocked from my lungs when Nate landed on top of me.

"Sorry," he muttered, rolling off.

I waved a hand. "S'okay." A humming noise caught my attention and I looked up. "Please don't let that be what I think it is." The humming got louder until an attack chopper flew overhead.

"Aww, no way!" Nate cried. The chopper fired a missile at the train car, causing it to explode. Nate scrambled to his feet and helped me up. "We've got to get off this thing!"

I shot him an incredulous look. "Ya think?!" We made it to the next car just as the chopper fired two more missiles, blowing up the carriage we were just on. Unfortunately, the next several cars were flatbeds with very little cover. And if the helicopter shooting missiles at us wasn't enough, more soldiers kept appearing. In frustration, I threw out a few choice Italian curses as I shot down the guards. I was so done with this crap! I lept to the next car and quickly ducked behind some cover. Nate jumped just as the chopper fired another missile, blowing up the car he was on. He landed wrong on my car and had to grab onto the side to keep from falling off. "Nate!" The previous car derailed and very nearly crashed into us, until it slammed into the side of the mountain.

Nate let out a nervous laugh as I helped him up. "Thank God for tunnels!" I nodded in agreement, taking in the short reprieve.

The reprieve was short lived. The train seemed to go on forever as we continued to fight our way through the seemingly never-ending stream of soldiers. Just as we came out of the tunnel, Lazaravic's right hand man spotted us and sent his men after us, as if they weren't already. We of course took them out all the same. That is until one of the heavily armored, chaingun soldiers showed up.

"Ah, no, not one of those mutants!" Nate groaned. We quickly ducked behind a truck.

"We gotta take that thing out!" I popped up when there was a lull in the bombardment of bullets to fire a few shots of my own. I might as well have been throwing pebbles for all the good they did me. Nate dragged me back down as the chaingun wound up again.

"Any other ideas?" Nate inquired, raising his voice to be heard over the thunder of bullets. I checked my pistol's magazine and cursed. I didn't have nearly enough rounds left to pierce that thick armor and with the moving train it was impossible to hit any potential chink in the armor. I scrambled for any ideas on how we could take the gunner out.

"Maybe we could somehow kick the logs out from under him," I suggested. Nate grinned, looking as if a lightbulb had suddenly gone off above his head.

"Alex that's it! The straps wrapped around the logs! We'll shoot the clamps!" I mirrored his grin and when there was another lull in the volley, we popped up and shot the clamps holding the straps in place. The soldier was caught up with the logs as they rolled off the train car. "See ya, asshole!" No sooner had we solved one problem then a former problem showed up.

"Ah merda!" I shouted as the chopper zoomed overhead. "I really hate helicopters!"

"You and me both!" Nate agreed. We ran across the next flatbed car. "How the hell are we supposed to take out a - hell-o!" I grinned as we came across another tank. I quickly climbed in and shifted the mounted gun into position.

"Time to fight fire with fire!" I let loose on the chopper.

"Missiles 3'O'clock!" Nate yelled. I turned the gun and destroyed the missiles before they could get near us and continued my barrage on the copter. Finally, the helicopter caught fire and spiraled out of control, crashing into the side of the mountain.

"I have got to get me one of these!" I cheered.

"We'll talk about it later," Nate said, helping me down. We went through yet another train car of soldiers before finally reaching Lazaravic's right hand man.

"You won't get past me!" He declared.

"No, we'll just go through you!" Nate retorted. Nate and I immediately took cover as the man opened fire. I fired a couple rounds from behind my cover before my gun's slide locked back in place, signaling I had run out of bullets. Cursing, I quickly ejected the magazine and snapped a full one in. Racking the slide, I looked up, ready to fire again, only to be startled as the soldier was suddenly in front of me. I tried to shoot, but wasn't quick enough. He caught my wrist and bent it back at an unnatural angle. I cried out in pain and I quickly reached back and pulled my knife out of its sheath, slicing the soldier's arm. The soldier growled in pain and released my arm. I didn't have time to nurse my sore wrist, however, as the soldier grabbed my neck and threw me across the train car. My head slammed into the floor and my knife went skittering out of sight. "Alex!" I heard Nate cry. I blinked rapidly, trying to stop my head from spinning. I could hear Nate grunting as he fought the man. I got unsteadily to my feet just in time to see Nate land a heavy right hook and the monster went down. Nate reached down and took the Phurba from his combat vest. "This is mine, jerkweed…" He turned to me, concern shining in his blue eyes. "Are you okay?"

"M'fine," I muttered. I rubbed my head both because it was sore and from embarrassment of not being able to help. "Wasn't much help there, was I?"

Nate shrugged with a chuckle. "The guy was twice your size." I shrugged, but winced at the movement. There was probably a good sized lump on the back of my head. "C'mon, Chloe's gotta be close." He turned and was met face to chest with the soldier. He grabbed Nate and threw him into the wall of the train car.

"Nate!" I rushed forward to try and help. The man merely grabbed the front of my shirt and shoved me backwards, sending me toppling over a nearby crate. I groaned in pain as I got to my feet. My eyes widened as I saw the monster choking the life out of my best friend. Before I could intervene again, a shot rang out and the man dropped dead. Nate and I turned around to see the subject of our search.

"Saved my ass again," Nate said with a relieved laugh. He walked towards Chloe. "Are you all right?" Chloe leveled her gun at him.

"Get off the train, Nate," she said. "Both of you." I stared at her in angered shock.

"What are you talking about?" Nate demanded, frustration seeping into his tone. "D'you have any idea what we've been through -"

"I never asked for any of your bloody heroics." That set me off.

"You're right, you didn't, but you clearly don't know him very well if you didn't think he was going to come after you anyway. Despite everything, he wanted to rescue you anyway because for some strange reason he cares for you! Dio sa perché! (God knows why!)" I shouted. My body started trembling in anger. "I wanted to leave you, I warned him that you only look out for yourself, but he insisted, so against my better judgement we decided to rescue your sorry culo (ass)." I stood, chest heaving from my rant. Chloe stared at me, wide eyed, gun hand shaking ever so slightly.

"You made your choice," she replied, her voice quiet, almost as if she was afraid of the reaction her reply would get.

My eyes flashed dangerously. "And I hope you're happy with yours," I shot back darkly. Something flashed across Chloe's face, but I couldn't tell nor did I care to find out what it was. I turned on my heel and stalked back towards the end of the train car calling Nate as I went. When my best friend didn't respond, I looked back. He hadn't moved, gazing at Chloe with such a heart broken expression it tore at my heart strings.

"Chloe…" His voice was soft and his face spoke to his need to understand her decision.

I set a gentle hand on his shoulder, vaguely gaining his attention. "Nate, we need to go before -" A shot rang out before I could finish my sentence. He stumbled, clutching his left side. "Nate!" I grabbed him to keep him from collapsing.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" Flynn sneered, walking forward with his gun still trained on Nate and I. "What? No witty remark? Nothing clever to say?" Flynn moved to fire again, but Chloe intervened.

"Harry, don't!" She cried, shoving Flynn's gun aside. I used the distraction to our advantage and practically dragged Nate back through the train. We only made it a couple train cars back until Nate's injury prevented him from going any further. I set him against one of the passenger seats and quickly evaluated our situation. Nate's left side was already covered in blood and he was fading fast.

I patted his cheek as his eyes drifted close. "Hey, stay with me now, Nate." In the distance I could hear soldiers shouting. I reached for my gun only to curse as I realized I hadn't grabbed it after it had been knocked from my hand. I felt a tap on my arm and noticed Nate handing me his gun.

"Here, I'm not going to be much use at this point," he admitted. I nodded and positioned myself next to him. This was it, we were going to die. I noticed some propane tanks near the end of the train car and got an idea.

"Do you trust me?" I asked my best friend. Nate's face was full of pain, but he gave me a firm nod. I aimed the gun carefully at the propane tanks. "Geronimo." I shot the tanks just as the soldiers reached the doorway. The tanks exploded, derailing our train car. The car tipped sideways and sent us rolling over the side of the mountain.

***Time skip past train wreck***

We trudged through the heavy snow, Nate holding tightly to his injured side. We spied an object buried in the snow and Nate dropped to his knees to pick up a very familiar dagger. Nate propped himself against an overturned train car, staring at the intricate dagger in his blood covered hands. I glared at the Phurba, as if it was its fault that we were in this situation. I knelt beside Nate, struggling to ignore the biting cold.

"I should check your wound, Nate," I told him, as if there was anything I could do at this point. All I got was a weak nod in response. I reached forward, doing my best to ignore Nate's flinch as I lifted the side of his shirt. It was hard to see where the actual wound was behind all the blood. Most of Nate's left side was covered in blood and his shirt was stiff where the blood had dried and frozen in the below zero temps.

"What's the verdict, doc?" Nate inquired, his lips quirking in a pained smirk.

"We definitely need to get you to a doctor and soon or else you're going to bleed out," I told him honestly.

"Well, I think all we're going to find up here is the Snow Miser," Nate said with a chuckle that turned into a grimace. Despite the pain he was in, he was still able to keep his sense of humor.

I smiled slightly, brows furrowed in concern. "Maybe we should talk to Mother Nature and see if she can get him to let Heat Miser help out, huh?" Nate's small smile slipped as we heard two military trucks arrive further up the hill. "Oh, per l'amor del cielo!" (oh, for heaven's sake) I grumbled. "Don't they ever give up?" I pulled Nate to his feet and we staggered off for a better hiding spot. I set him down in a more sheltered area. "Stay here, okay?"

"Wait - Alex!" I ignored Nate's frantic whisper and snuck around the corner, quickly locating a soldier foolish enough to stray from the group. While I hated the cold, the snow did give the advantage of muffling my footsteps. I easily snuck up on the unsuspecting guard and with a quick twist, snapped his neck. I picked up his gun and hurried off to find my next victim. I managed to take out most of the soldiers silently. Unfortunately, my last one had been out in the open and before I could sneak back into cover, I was spotted. As usual, a firefight ensued. Being so focused on the soldiers at my front, I foolishly left my back exposed. Thinking I had taken out all the guards, I was taken by surprise as I was suddenly hit from behind. I grunted and dropped to my knees, head spinning. An arm wound its way around my throat and lifted me from the ground. The arm pressed against my windpipe, cutting off my air supply. I gasped and scrabbled at the arm around my neck, but the soldier merely chuckled maniacally. A single shot ran out and my body went stiff. The arm around my neck loosened and the soldier collapsed, dead. I dropped to my knees again, coughing as I struggled to get air into my oxygen starved lungs. Looking up, Nate stood a few feet away, gun still raised.

"Thanks," I rasped, rubbing my sore neck. Nate stumbled and my eyes widened. I scrambled to my feet to catch him as his knees nearly gave out. "Facile facile," (easy easy) I soothed in a calming tone that was very contrary to how I was feeling at the moment. Nate looked horrible and my agitation was starting to affect my language. "Dai, dobbiamo continuare a muoverci." (C'mon, we need to keep moving.) Nate could barely walk at this point, his legs weakly supporting his weight as I practically dragged him in the direction the trucks had come from. We wandered through the snow, the blizzard biting at any exposed flesh. I couldn't feel my hands, feet, or face now, and my teeth were chattering so violently they were rattling my brain. Nate of course was in far worse condition. I could feel him shivering against me as his body did everything in its power to warm itself. The massive amount of blood he had lost certainly didn't help our already dire situation. I wondered how long he would be able to go for before the strain became too much for his body. A moment later, Nate answered my nonverbal question. One misstep and he collapsed against me, dragging us both onto the snow covered ground. "Nate! Nate!" I rolled him over, pulling his head into my lap and patting his cheeks. "C'mon! Non puoi arrenderti ora!" (You can't give up now!) His eyelids fluttered, but did not open. "Nate! Please! Non sono forte come Samwise. Non posso portarti da solo." (I'm not strong like Samwise. I can't carry you by myself.) Still no response. I glanced around desperately, hoping in vain there would be someone out there to help us. I shivered violently and I knew I wouldn't last much longer either. In the distance, just at the edge of my field of view, I could make out a figure. "Help us!" I called. I figured it was no use, just my addled brain making me see things. There was no one to help. To my numb surprise, the figure moved closer. I watched, eyes narrowed against the biting snow as the figure formed into a man, and not one of the soldiers that have been trying to kill us. The man stopped in front of me, staring down at me silently. I clutched Nate's unconscious form closer to me and whimpered a single word. "Help…"


	10. Feelings!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup my dudes! I present for your reading pleasure, the next chapter! This chapter's title is brought to you via a quote from Supernatural's Crowley. I love this show. I seriously can't decide who my favorite character is. Anyway, please read and enjoy!

How we actually got to that little Tibetan village, I'll never remember. Apparently, I passed out almost as soon as we reached the gate. I awoke some time later to a very stressed yet relieved Elena. She smiled knowingly when the first thing I did was ask if Nate was okay. She was quick to assure me that he was alive and currently resting in the care of Tenzin, the man who had rescued us. When I asked how she had found us, Elena said she had followed the train wreckage. I then had to explain how on earth we had managed to destroy a train. Once I was up, I was given food and a warm, fur lined coat. I thanked my host, which Elena had to translate for me, as out of the many languages I understood, Tibetan was not one of them.

A couple hours later, I was relaxing in a chair, sipping some hot tea while I watched Elena interact with Tenzin's young daughter. A soft smile rested on my face as I observed the two. Elena would make a good mother one day. Fingering the silver bands around my neck, I silently wondered what it would be like when I hopefully had a child of my own. Would I be a good mother? Would I even be able to give up the life I loved to raise a child? Who would even be stupid enough to marry me? I was headstrong and wasn't afraid to speak my mind. I often got sucked into research for jobs Nate and I were working on, practically forgetting about the world around me. I yearned for adventure and got bored when I was left without a job for too long. Not many men could put up with that. I knew who I wanted to marry and raise a family with someday, but I was unsure of his feelings towards me and I was too much of a coward to confess mine. I was brought out of my thoughts when the door opened and Tenzin walked in, followed by none other than Nathan Drake. He smiled when he spotted Elena and I.

"Just when I thought I had nothing left to lose…" He opened his arms and I quickly set down my now empty tea cup and ran to him, wrapping my arms around him. Seeing him alive and well, I felt as though a weight had just been lifted from my shoulders. Times like this made me realize just how lost I would be without him. The good feeling dissipated as Nate groaned in pain and jerked away, hand going to his injured side. I instantly let go, muttering a few apologies in Italian. "It's fine… Alex, tell me you have some idea of what's going on here - I mean, how long have we been here?"

"Only a few days," I told him, repeating what Elena had told me when I had asked that very question. I lowered my head. "I'm - I'm sorry about Chloe. I know you really cared about her."

Nate sighed in resignation. "Yeah, well, you were right about her." I looked up, somewhat surprised. I mean, I knew I was right, it was more that he admitted it. "You tried to warn me, but I didn't listen." He gave me a sad, but sincere smile. "Guess I owe you one for watching my back for the hundredth time."

I returned the smile. "Yeah, but who's counting?" Nate chuckled. Tenzin approached Elena and spoke to her in Tibetan. Elena nodded and replied.

The blonde grabbed our arms and started pulling us along. "C'mon - there's somebody who's anxious to meet you." Nate and I exchanged curious glances as we let Elena lead us into the next room. An elderly man descended a set of stairs from the level above and walked over, arms spread wide in greeting.

"So, our mysterious guests awake," the man said cheerfully. His accent was not like the others in the village. It was German.

"Nate, Alex, this is Karl Schäfer," Elena introduced. The newly named Schäfer shook Nate and I's hands.

"How are you two feeling?"

"Good, thanks," Nate answered, still confused.

"Warm," I said simply.

Schäfer nodded, satisfied. "Good, good - please, sit." He indicated the chairs at the table in the middle of the room. I adjusted my chair so my back was to the fire crackling in the fireplace. "It appears you and I have much in common, Mr. Drake and Miss King."

Nate arched a brow and glanced at me. "Is that so?"

Schäfer went over to a bookshelf and pulled out a book. "Yes, seventy years ago, I came here just like you - carried into the village, near death, the last survivor of my company." He set the book on the table in front of Nate and I and opened it. Inside were pictures in black and white and yellowing slightly around the edges, an indication of their age. "I was hired to lead an expedition into Tibet, to find the entrance to Shambhala." I leaned forward to inspect the pictures of the expedition, listening intently to the eerily familiar story. "What they really wanted was the Cintamani Stone. So, my friends - where did you find this?" He unfolded a cloth sitting on the table, revealing the Phurba. I narrowed my eyes at the golden ritual dagger.

Nate leaned back in his chair, his expression guarded. "Borneo. Why?"

"This is the key to Shambhala," Elena explained. I looked away. As if we didn't already know that.

"It's the one object your opponent desperately needs - even if he does not know it yet," Schäfer continued.

I scoffed. "I'm pretty sure he knows."

"Look, I'm grateful for everything you've done for us," Nate said. "I really am. But I'm through with all this." I eyed my best friend, a bit surprised. It wasn't like Nate to give up when we were so close. Yeah, sure, we hit a bit of a bump in the road when we lost our inside woman, but I honestly hadn't really been relying on her anyway. At the same time, I could see his point of view in not wanting to continue. We were in way over our heads with this one. Course, that wasn't anything new. We had a talent in getting in over our heads, but we always managed to pull out ahead. However, looking at my best friend now, I think he might have hit his limit. Despite his rest, he still appeared exhausted.

Schäfer crossed his arms, regarding Nate. "So they have beaten you, eh? Your quest is over?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"What if it's only beginning?" I raised my brows. Oh that didn't sound ominous at all.

Nate glanced at Elena and shook his head. "Where did you find this guy?"

Schäfer chuckled in amusement. "Trust me, young man - your ego will mend. You're just lucky to be alive."

"Yeah - y'know, people are always telling me how lucky I am," Nate snapped in irritation. "But the truth is, everything I touch turns to shit." I couldn't exactly argue that one. There was a reason we couldn't have nice things. He got up from the table.

"Nate…" Elena tried to soothe.

Nate rounded on her. "No, Elena, I'm done. Now, c'mon. I'm through playing the hero."

"Your adversary will not give up so easily," Schäfer countered. "He will not stop until he possesses the thing he desires."

Nate scoffed, unconcerned. "Oh, yeah? Well, more power to him."

"Power is precisely the problem. Some of the most fearsome rulers through history have possessed only a fragment of the Cintamani Stone," Schäfer continued. I set my elbows on the table and rested my chin on my laced fingers as I listened. "Men like Tamerlan, Genghis Khan… If a mere sliver could bestow such power, what would a man become if he possessed the Stone itself?" I tuned out the conversation as I realized Schäfer was right. I was not a superstitious person and neither was Nate, but if there was just the smallest chance that this could be true, then we needed to do something about it. We had already seen the damage Lazarevic could do in Nepal. Imagining the carnage he could create if he got the Stone didn't bear thinking about.

"Nate, Schäfer's right," I spoke, cutting Nate off just as he was about to fire back at the old man. I met my best friend's shocked gaze steadily. "We need to see this through to the end. We need to find Shambhala and destroy that Stone."

"You can't be serious," Nate said in disbelief. I stared at him, showing I meant what I said. "Alex, this is crazy! It's just a myth!"

"And only two years ago we thought El Dorado was a myth!" I shot back. "It may not have been the city of gold we were expecting, but it was no myth." He still looked like he wanted to argue. I got up and walked over to him, grabbing his hand. "Nate, we make a living in chasing myths and legends and hoping that some part of them is true. If there is even a small chance that the Cintamani Stone is real and that it truly can bestow such power to any who wields it, then we need to do everything we can to keep Lazaravic from getting it."

"I don't want to be the hero anymore." His voice was quiet and showed just how tired he really was. I rubbed soothing circles on his knuckles with my thumb.

"Well you know what they say?" Nate furrowed his brows and shook his head. I gave him a soft smile "Go with your strengths." He lowered his head with a soft huff, a reluctant smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"I understand your doubt," Schäfer spoke. "You require proof - something you can see with your own eyes. Tenzin…" He switched to Tibetan and Tenzin nodded. "Find the remains of my expedition, and you will have your proof. Tenzin will guide you." Nate, Elena, and I walked outside, Tenzin following. Tenzin said something in Tibetan, motioning for Nate to follow.

Nate stared after the impatient Tibetan and sighed. "I hope we live to regret this."

"We? That's all you, Indiana Jones," I told him.

He looked back at me, head cocked. "You're not coming?"

I shook my head. "I'm not the one who needs to be convinced. You'll be fine. I'll stay here and work on plotting our next move." He looked a little worried at being separated and in all honesty, it would be a lie to say I wasn't concerned. In a spur of the moment, I reached forward and kissed his cheek. "Stai attento." (Be careful) I pushed him towards Tenzin as the Tibetan again made urgent motions for him to follow. As we walked away, I noticed him lift his hand to his cheek. I turned around and noticed Elena eyeing me. I arched a brow. "What?"

"You never did tell him after El Dorado, did you?" I stiffened, a blush rising to my cheeks.

I looked away. "...No, I didn't."

Thankfully, she didn't comment further. "I'll go get some maps so we can start figuring out our next move." I nodded and walked back into the house to my chair while she wandered off. I walked back into the house and returned to my seat, staring at the dagger still on the table while I waited for Elena to return. I absentmindedly fingered the silver rings around my neck.

"Mr. Drake thinks very highly of you." I jumped slightly at Schäfer's voice. The older man walked around to stoke the fire. "I've met many stubborn men in my time, Miss King, but none were so easily swayed once their minds had been made up."

I shrugged nonchalantly. It wasn't the first time I had changed Nate's mind about something and I doubted it would be the last. "Well, as his best friend, it's my job to knock some sense into his head once in a while."

Schäfer paused in his stoking to pass me a knowing smile. "Oh I think that was a bit more than 'knocking some sense'." I blinked, wondering what he was getting at. "It's rare to see a man look at someone the way he does at you. That boy would go to the ends of the earth for you." I stared at the man. What was I supposed to do with that? He patted me on the shoulder. "I'll leave you to your planning." With that, he walked off, leaving me bemused.

"He's right, you know," Elena said as she came back and dropped the maps she was carrying on the table.

I raised a brow at her. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Enough." I sighed. "But as I said, he's right."

I hummed and reached for one of the maps. "You a match maker now?"

"Alex," Elena scolded. "I'm not trying to get you and Nate together because I think you'd be cute or something, though I won't deny that. The way Nate looks at you, it's deeper than friendship. Why can't you see that?"

"Cause I'm scared," I admitted. Elena blinked, seeming surprised by my answer. I took a deep breath as I revealed the root of the problem. "I'm scared that I'll give myself false hope for something that will never happen. I just can't bear the thought of losing Nate because I decided to take a chance and tell him how I feel and have my heart broken when I found out he doesn't return my feelings."

"You won't lose him, Alex. He cares for you far too much even if it isn't romantically, however unlikely that may be," Elena assured me. I gave her a skeptical look, still not wanting to dare to hope. She sighed heavily at my stubbornness. "Look, I don't want to push you into anything you don't want to do, but wouldn't you rather know for sure? The way you two live your lives, the danger you get into…" She gave me a pointed look. "I'd hate for you to lose your chance." I blinked at her, her words swimming in my mind. She grabbed one of the maps and unfolded it. "Anyway, we should probably get to work before Nate and Tenzin get back."

Over the next hour, Elena and I scoured the maps for the location of the entrance to Shambhala and a safe route to get there. Elena's advice buzzed in the back of my mind the entire time. I hated to admit it, but she had a point. Nate and I led dangerous lives, this particular job was testament to that. Maybe she was right, perhaps it was time to tell Nate, regardless of the consequences. As cheesy as it sounds, I've loved him from almost the moment we met, but always kept my feelings to myself, hiding under sarcasm and witty remarks. Eventually, I came to terms that I would only ever be a friend to him and I was okay with that. Then two years ago, some journalist put the idea in my mind that Nate might just view me as more than a friend. I continued to hide my feelings behind sarcasm and witty comebacks as always, but since then, there has been this tiny sliver of hope that had only grown until Chloe's return. And now to have Elena remind me of our conversation and Schäfer make comment about my influence over my best friend, well, I could barely keep the hope from blossoming. Letting out a sigh that Elena probably thought was frustration over the maps, I decided that if Nate and I made it out of this alive, I would tell him how I felt.

Turning my full attention to the maps, I recognized part of the mountain range on the one in front of me. It was like the tourist map Nate and I had picked up when we first got to Nepa, the one Lazarevic now possessed. Examining the map closer, I noticed an old monastery right in the area Nate had marked on our old map. If there really was a secret entrance to Shambhala, an old monastery seemed like a likely place to put it. I looked up from the map when I heard a rumbling in the distance.

"Please tell me that's not an avalanche," I said, getting up to go outside and see what was going on. An avalanche would have been preferable compared to what I saw in the distance. I bolted back inside the house. "Elena!" The blonde shot up at my outburst. "They're here! Lazarevic's here!"

"What?!"

"We've got to get everyone out of here!"

"What's going on?" Schäfer asked as he came downstairs, Tenzin's daughter in his arms.

"Lazarevic found us!" I told him. He stiffened and immediately tightened his hold on the little girl.

"We need to warn everyone!" He said firmly. "Get the women and children out of harm's way." Elena and I nodded and hurried off. I wasn't much help since I couldn't speak the language, but my mannerisms were enough to let people know something was wrong and Elena filled in the rest. Elena crouched by two children while I tried to direct a mother holding a baby when I saw Nate and Tenzin out of the corner of my eye. I ran to him, relieved to see him alive.

"Thank God…" Nate said, wrapping his arms tightly around me. He quickly gave Elena a hug. "What happened?"

"Lazarevic found us," I answered. Tenzin said something and Elena shook her head.

"I don't know - I don't know… Schäfer's got her," she replied, tears forming in her eyes. I realized he must have been asking about his daughter. She spoke again to Tenzin, this time in Tibetan. The only word I was able to catch was Schäfer. Tenzin repeated the name. Elena turned back to Nate. "They went the other way."

"Nate." I grabbed my best friend's arm and gestured to the destruction around us. "Questa è colpa nostra. Dobbiamo aggiustarlo." (This is our fault. We have to fix this.)

Nate nodded, jaw set. "All right. Alex with me. Elena, stay here and keep them safe." Elena went back to comforting the two young girls while Nate and I drew our guns and followed Tenzin into Schäfer's house.

We ran through the village, taking out any soldiers we met along the way. The scene was heartbreaking. What was just a quiet village only a couple hours ago had now become a war zone. And if avoiding getting shot by soldiers wasn't enough, we also had to dodged a tank. Seriously, who brings a tank to the Himalayas?! Using a pair of binoculars, we located Schäfer and Tenzin's daughter on the other side of the village. We had quite a few close calls with the tank whose driver must've never heard the phrase 'don't drink and drive'. Nate "borrowed" a RPG from a soldier who was too dead to care and took out the tank while Tenzin and I covered him. With the tank removed from the equation, we rushed towards the village main gate. Further down the road, I could see the tail end of a convoy making its waking through the mountain.

"Tenzin -" Nate pointed to the disappearing convoy. He was interrupted by a young girl calling. We turned and Tenzin grinned in relief as he enveloped his daughter in his arms. Nate and I approached. "Schäfer… where's Schäfer?" The girl babbled something in Tibentan. Nate and I glanced at each other, unsure what the girl had said. Where was Elena when you needed her? The girl, seeming to sense our confusion, pointed in the direction of the convoy. My mouth went dry. Those monsters took Schäfer!

Elena took that moment to appear. "Nate! Alex!"

"They took Schäfer!" Nate rushed over to a truck that was left behind.

"Oh, God…" Elena gasped. "It's because he had the dagger."

"I know." Nate pulled the dead soldier out of the truck and I climbed in, quickly followed by Elena. "Hey -"

"No time to argue - we gotta go!" Elena told him.

Nate sighed. "All right, well, at least scooch over." Elena and I slid over so Nate was behind the wheel. Nate waved to Tenzin as we drove off on yet another rescue mission. We quickly caught up to the convoy.

"Schäfer's probably in the lead car," I said.

"We gotta stop 'em before Lazarevic gets ahold of him," Elena said.

Nate nodded. "All right - I have an idea…" He opened the truck door.

"What on earth are you doing?" Elena asked.

"I'm gonna clear the road," Nate responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I rolled my eyes. I would be worried if this was the craziest thing he's done, but sadly it wasn't. "Take the wheel."

Elena stared at him. "What?"

"Just take it." Elena glanced at me and I shrugged, used to his antics.

She carefully moved to take the wheel from Nate. "Why didn't you just let me or Alex drive in the first place?"

"I didn't think that far ahead."

"You never do," I teased.

"Hold it steady…" Nate said, leaning out of the door. He aimed his gun at the truck ahead of us. "A little closer…" Suddenly, we were rammed from behind, throwing off Nate's aim. He dangled from the swinging door.

"Nate!" I called.

Elena desperately tried to keep the truck steady. "Hang on!" Another truck came alongside us and Nate grabbed hold.

I watched as the other truck sped off with Nate hanging off the side. "Oh, good grief." Sighing in frustration, I maneuvered myself so I was leaning out my own window. I fired at a soldier in another truck attempting to take advantage of Nate being preoccupied with the soldiers in his truck. I continued to help Nate as he jumped from truck to truck. I cursed when I missed a shot as Elena swerved to avoid being rammed again. "Keep it steady!"

"I'm trying!" I nearly fell out of the truck when another truck rammed us from the side. "Nate, get these guys off us!" Using the grenade launcher attached to the truck he was currently in, Nate blew up the truck next to us. We caught back up to him and he jumped into the back.

"You good?" I called to him.

"Yeah! There's the lead car! Gun it!"

Elena nodded. "Hold on!" She floored the accelerator.

"Haha! That's right, you bastards! We got you now!" As he finished speaking, a soldier holding a rocket launcher appeared. "Oh, crap!"

"Elena!" I shouted. She swerved just as the soldier fired, sending us over the edge of the cliff.


	11. Hi Ho Hi Ho to the Monastery We Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, my dudes! Thank you for the comments, I enjoy them so much! For anyone wondering, Uncharted 3 is under way! As always, please read and enjoy and until next time.

How we managed to survive I don't think I'll ever know. The three of us clambered back over the edge of the cliff. I flopped onto the snowy ground, my heaving breaths creating clouds.

"Just like old times, huh?" Nate panted.

"You could say that," Elena puffed.

"Yeah, I'm getting a real sense of dejavu," I added.

Elena sat up. "So now what?"

"Welp," I started with a grunt as I sat up. "I'd say the creepy old monastery would be a good start." Nate pulled out his binoculars.

"There's Schäfer," he said. "Damn it."

"What's happening?" Elena asked.

"Lazarevic has him."

"Ah, merda," I groaned, running a hand through my hair. "Can't we have it easy, just once?"

"Tell me about it," Nate agreed. "You guys ready for this?" I heaved a sigh and nodded. I got to my feet and brushed myself off.

"As I'll ever be," Elena replied. I held a hand out to her and tugged her to her feet.

"We best get moving then," I said. We climbed the rest of the way up to the monastery.

"Almost there," Nate announced. "You got it? Quietly now, c'mon." He paused to let Elena and I pass him. "Nice view." I glanced down and caught Nate looking at my backside. I arched a brow and he sent me a cheeky grin.

"Men," Elena huffed.

"No, no, I was talking about the mountains. Really," Nate insisted unconvincingly.

"I'll have you know that my backside is a worthy view," I retorted.

"Yeah, it's a shame you have to sit on something that pretty." I shook my head with an amused smile and pulled myself over the edge. A few soldiers were left behind at the entrance to the monastery. I peaked around the edge of a truck parked near the entrance and noticed two guards nearby. I turned to Nate.

"You take left, I take right?" He nodded. Together, we snuck up on our respective targets and knocked them out. We took out the couple remaining soldiers and continued. We finally made it to the main doors and per usual, they were crawling with guards.

"Careful," Elena warned. "They haven't seen us yet." We quickly took cover.

I huffed in frustration. "How many soldiers does Lazarevic have?" It felt like we had already killed an entire army's worth of soldiers just today. I poked my head from behind my wooden barrier. I could count a dozen men easily from my position. "Let's try and take these guys out quietly, please."

Nate nodded. "Same as before? You take right, I take left?"

"Yeah," I sighed. Surprisingly, we managed to take out a good portion of the soldiers silently. But how does that saying go? All good things must come to an end? As always, a fire fight broke out. My back slammed against a wall as I ducked in cover to avoid a barrage of bullets. They had a maledetto (damn) machine gun! "Nate!"

"I know!" I heard him call from somewhere off to my left. "Cover me!"

I popped a new magazine into my pistol with more force than necessary and racked the slide. "Cover you! Yeah! Sure!" The machine gun stopped its bombardment and I saw him dart out from the corner he had taken cover in and I laid down cover fire. I quickly pulled back again as the machine gun wound up. I cringed as a piece of wood struck above my eye. "Nate! Any time now!" A moment later, the gun stopped. I poked my head out to see Nate had taken control of the mounted gun. "Yes!" I cheered, but the triumph was short lived as more soldiers arrived. "Elena, let's go! Nate, cover us!" Nate used the mounted gun to lay down cover fire as Elena and I bolted across the bridge. He cleared the last of the soldiers and the three of us stood in front of another door, a wheel mechanism on either side to open it.

"It's gonna take two of us to get this door open," Elena said. Nate took one wheel while she took the other. Slowly but surely, the door raised.

"All right, I'll hold it, you two go first," Nate said. I nodded and ran through, closely followed by Elena. Once we were through, Nate released the wheel and slid under the door as it slammed shut behind him. We continued our way through the old monastery. We had to improvise several routes because as per usual, there wasn't a straight shot. Part way through, we paused as we noticed Schäfer being moved to a tower on the far end of the monastery. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the doors of the tower, they were locked.

"There's no way we're getting through here," Elena announced.

"Okay, I'll try to find another way around - open it from the other side," Nate said.

I shook my head. "Nope, I got this one, Indiana Jones. You can sit this one out."

"Alex -" Nate began to protest, but I cut him off.

"Nuh uh, you're still healing. Take this chance to rest while I find a way around," I told him.

Nate didn't look happy, but relented. "Fine, but be careful."

"And try to be subtle," Elena added. "We don't want to attract any unnecessary attention."

I cocked a brow in mild offense. "Elena, I know how to be subtle, it's Mr. I Break Everything I Touch over there that needs to work on his subtlety."

"Hey!" Nate protested. "Need I remind you that you were the one to blow up that temple in Peru."

I waved him off. "Well they shouldn't have left C4 lying around where someone could accidentally shoot it." Nate crossed his arms and raised a brow. "I'll be subtle." I patted his cheek playfully. "Sit tight." I clambered onto a nearby roof and used it to jump onto the tower wall. I worked my way up to a wooden platform and grabbed hold, only to yelp a curse when part of it broke away. I quickly regained control and spotted a soldier on another platform a few feet below me. I held my breath as he walked back around the corner of the tower, not noticing the woman hanging above him. "Quiet," I chastised myself. I pulled myself up and moved into the tower. Peering over the wooden ledge, I could see several soldiers on multiple platforms all the way down the tower. I cursed again, silently this time. Subtle, right. A soldier on the platform directly below moved underneath my platform. Well, better late than never I suppose. I launched myself off my platform, landing on the soldier. Somehow, I managed to do that without alerting the other guards. The second time, I wasn't so lucky. I landed on a second soldier, this time alerting the other guard on the platform. He signaled the other soldiers just before I shot him. I could just picture Nate shaking his head on the other side of the tower doors as I worked my way through the soldiers. Once I reached the bottom, the side of the tower exploded, throwing me to the ground. A second explosion destroyed the wall. I heard a loud crack and a support beam collapsed, hitting the doors leading into the tower. The doors hit the ground with a loud thud.

"I thought you said you knew how to be subtle!" Nate teased as he and Elena ran in.

"Subtlety is overrated anyway!" I retorted. The three of us took out the guys on the bridge and moved into the next tower. Nate was about to cross the next bridge when I quickly yanked him back by his holster into the safety of the tower. A bullet punched a hole into a wooden beam right where Nate had just been standing. "Snipers!"

"Crap!" Nate groaned. He carefully peaked his head out this time, but promptly withdrew as a red dot appeared on his forehead.

"We're sitting ducks down here," Elena cried. "Get me up that ladder!" Nate quickly boosted her up a nearby ladder and she kicked it down for us. "We've gotta get across that bridge."

"We can't go out there now, those snipers will cut us to pieces." I glanced around for anything that could help us get across that bridge. Looking up, I spotted a familiar shape. I grinned.

"Hey, I think there's a sniper rifle up there!"

"Go! We'll cover you," Nate told me. I nodded and climbed up. Grinning excitedly, I picked up the Dragon Sniper and checked the chamber.

"Lock and load." First things first, I shot the guy with the RPG. The tower exploded and crumpled. Oops.

"Holy crap! Alex, did you do that!" Nate asked from below.

"Umm, sort of?" I replied. I took out the snipers one by one. Unfortunately, no sooner had I cleared the other towers of snipers, when more soldiers arrived and started crossing the bridge. I could hear Nate and Elena firing at the soldiers. Using my new toy, I shot as many soldiers as I could before they moved out of sight.

"That's the last of 'em!" Nate sighed. I jumped down and landed next to them. "Nice shooting."

I smiled. "Thanks, now let's cross that bridge!" We tiptoed across a narrow beam. On the other side of the bridge, I could just make out Lazarevic and two soldiers pushing Schäfer into the tower. Nate pulled out his binoculars. He groaned.

"Ugh, that son-of-a-bitch. We don't have much time... we gotta hurr -" I tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to Elena who had already run off across the bridge. "- and there she goes."

"Come on!" Elena called.

I giggled and ran after her. "Let's go slowpoke!"

"Right behind ya!" Halfway across the bridge, I heard a crack and slid to a stop. Turning around, I saw that Nate had fallen through the planks. "Nate!"

"Are you okay?" Elena asked.

"Run!" Nate shouted. I didn't need to be told twice. I bolted across the bridge as it began to collapse. I let out a startled scream as the bridge broke and slammed into the side of the cliff. I gripped a plank tightly as I was nearly knocked loose.

"Nate, Alex! You still down there?" Elena called.

"Yes," Nate groaned from several feet below me.

"Yeah," I answered. Elena poked her head over the side as I climbed the last few feet. She grabbed my arm and hauled me over the edge. "Thanks." We both turned to watch Nate struggle to climb the rest of the way up. The boards kept breaking under him. "C'mon, you can do it! Grab my hand!" I held out my hand and he grabbed it just as the last part of the bridge collapsed.

"Pull me up! Pull me up!" Elena reached out to help and together we pulled Nate up. He bent over, resting his hands on his knees as he breathed heavily. I gazed back at the destruction we had once again created. I really hope we didn't need to go back that way. "I'm never crossing a bridge with you again."

"Deal," Elena agreed.

After getting through the heavy doors, we made our way to the main tower. Of course it was not without its obstacles. Lazarevic had put all his men on high alert and it didn't take very long for them to realize we were there.

"You would think at some point Lazarevic would run out of soldiers," I said, shooting a couple as Nate, Elena, and I worked our way up to the room we assumed Schäfer was in. Nate ducked behind a large crate as a shotgun blast punched holes right where his head had been.

"I'm more surprised that the ones he still has haven't left yet," he replied. He poked his head back up and fired a few shots into the soldier with the shotgun. The gunshots finally died as we eliminated the rest of the soldiers. "Okay, let's get up there and check it out." We rushed up the stairs and burst into the room. I gasped. Schäfer was lying on the ground, gravely injured.

"It's okay. We're here," Elena soothed, kneeling beside the injured man. Schäfer's eyes fluttered open and he coughed a few times.

"Easy," I told him. I knelt on his other side, resting a hand on his shoulder. He was in bad shape. It wasn't hard to tell that he mostly likely wasn't going to last long. I shared a concerned glance with Nate.

"You were right," Schäfer coughed.

"About what?" Nate asked.

Schäfer gave a painful smile. "Everything you touch does turn to shit." The elderly man coughed again. Nate chuckled lightly.

"We need to get you out of here," I said, moving to shift Schäfer.

The older man shook his head in protest. "No…"

Elena looked at us helplessly. "What do we do?" Nates shook his head. He glanced at me for answers but I shrugged. I didn't want to leave him, but he was too injured to move without fear of causing more harm.

"Did you find my expedition?" Schäfer asked.

Nate nodded. "Yes, I found them."

"If they had found the Stone… it would have changed the course of history." He coughed again, his face contorted in pain and I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as Elena tried to soothe him. "He took the dagger -"

"I know."

"He's gone to the tower… you have to stop him." Schäfer tried to get up, but Elena and I stopped him.

"Try not to move," Elena told him gently.

"This monastery hides the secret path to Shambhala. You must get the dagger back… find the secret path… and destroy the Stone before he gets his hands on it. Drake…" He held out his hand to Nate who took it. "You have to believe." His hand went slack as he died. I lowered my head, a single tear slipping down my cheek. Nate placed Schäfer's hand on the medallion he wore around his neck and got to his feet.

"We can't just leave him," Elena said.

"What choice do we have? You heard him," Nate said solemnly.

"Do you think all this could be true?"

Nate shrugged. "I don't know - but he believed it." He looked at me. "That's enough for me." I nodded, now more determined than ever. Too many people have died in Lazarevic's quest for power. It was time to end this. We walked back out of the room.

"I think we should split up," Elena suddenly announced.

I snapped my head to her. "What - Elena?!"

"No, listen - I'll go scope out the secret entrance thing and you two go to the tower and figure out how to get that dagger back," Elena explained.

I was skeptical. "I really don't think splitting up is the best idea. It's dangerous."

"Alex, I think she's right," Nate said. I turned to him, wide eyed. "We don't have a lot of time and you and I are more likely to run into trouble going after the dagger than Elena is." I pursed my lips, but I knew he was right. We didn't have enough time for the three of us to find the dagger and secret entrance without separating.

I nodded reluctantly. "All right, fine. But please, be careful."

"And stay in radio contact," Nate added.

"Yeah okay." Elena jogged off. My emotions must have been showing on my face as I stared after her because Nate placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"She'll be all right," he assured me. "She knows how to handle herself."

I sighed. "I know. C'mon, let's go get that dagger, again."


	12. Please be a Secret Door. Yay!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is here my friends! This story is almost done, can you belive it? Welp, you guys know the drill, read and enjoy! Till next time!

As Nate and I trekked further into the monastery, we used the rooftops to avoid any more encounters with soldiers. I really wished I could stop to admire the view. The monks that lived here before certainly had quite a view of the mountains. Must have been a peaceful place to live, cold, but peaceful. We reached a courtyard where a group of soldiers were shooting at something.

"What the hell are they shooting at?" Nate wondered aloud. We crouched low on the rooftop, not wanting to get involved in the skirmish below. I heard a loud growl and what I could only describe as a mutated sasquatch jumped onto the rooftop opposite us.

"Cavalo!" (holy crap) I whisper yelled. "What the heck is that thing?!" A second demon sasquatch followed after the first, growling at the soldiers. The soldiers were pumping the creatures full of lead, but they seemed unaffected.

"Ah crap, not those things again," Nate muttered.

I gave him a wide eyed stare. "You knew about these things?"

Nate nodded, watching as the mutated sasquatches clambered over the rooftops and disappeared. "Yeah, we had the displeasure of being introduced when Tenzin took me to find Schäfer's expedition."

"What are they?"

He shook his head. "I don't know." I looked back to where the creatures had disappeared, a bubbling feeling of apprehension in my stomach. We snuck into the courtyard and cleared it of whatever soldiers were left and weaved our way through the buildings till we came to a door. Using the wheel mechanism, we opened the door and slipped inside. After eliminating the soldiers in the next area we climbed through an open window and back out onto the rooftops. A moment later, the radio crackled to life.

" _Guys… There's something strange going on over here_ ," Elena said nervously. " _There's some sort of animals._ " I cast Nate a sideways glance as he replied sheepishly.

"Yeah, I probably should have warned you about them."

" _Warned me? Wait, you knew about these things? When were you planning on telling me?_ "

"Just lay low and stay out of their way." Nate noticed my gaze. "What?"

I shook my head. "Nothing, it's just nice to know you remember to tell us important information."

Nate blushed in embarrassment. "I was going to say something when I got back, but we got a little preoccupied with Lazarevic."

"Uh huh. C'mon, we're almost there."

We finally reached the tower where Lazarevic had gone to. We climbed up a broken section and perched ourselves on a wooden beam. In the room below, Lazarevic paced as he talked angrily to Flynn and Chloe. I quietly pulled out my pistol and noticed Nate do the same out of the corner of my eye. He held out a hand warningly. I just wanted to shoot Lazarevic here and now and get it over with, but I begrudgingly withheld and listened in to the heated conversation.

"I'm tired of your excuses," Lazarevic growled to Flynn, the Phurba clenched tightly in his hand as he paced the room.

"Look, give me some more time, that's all I'm asking," Flynn pleaded.

Lazarevic gave a humorless laugh. "I have given you enough time. I have brought you the dagger. Now - where is the gate to Shambhala?"

"Look Zoran - we know -" Suddenly, Lazarevic shoved Flynn against a pillar, gripping his throat and holding the Phurba in his face threateningly.

"I have not come this far to be thwarted by your incompetence."

Flynn gulped. "We know the answer is somewhere in this room. We just have to find it."

"Meanwhile Drake and King remain just one step behind you," Lazarevic snarled. Flynn flinched as Lazarevic stabbed the dagger into the pillar beside his head. "I clearly hired the wrong man for the job." He stormed out of the room. Flynn let out a shaky breath and pulled the Phurba out of the pillar.

"What an asshole," Chloe said to try and lighten the mood, but her voice trembled slightly. I smirked smugly. It appeared the normally unflappable Chloe had gotten way in over her head.

"I'll - I'll try to smooth things over with him," Flynn told her as he gave her the dagger. "Just - stay here. See what you can work out." He hurried out of the room after Lazarevic. Yeah, good luck man. She began to pace the room, muttering to herself. I turned to Nate to see what our next step should be. He had replaced his gun into its holster and motioned for me to do the same. I gave him a look that said 'do I have to?' We couldn't trust Chloe, especially not after the incident on the train. He gave me an insistent look and I huffed quietly, stuffing my gun into my thigh holster. He gestured for me to follow and jumped down behind Chloe.

"That belongs to us."

I hit the ground next to Nate with a thud. "So hand it over and we'll let you walk out of here." I always did want to do a dramatic entrance.

"Nate? Alex?" Chloe turned around, shock written all over her face. She hurried towards us. "Get out of here."

"Give us the dagger," Nate demanded.

"They'll be here any minute -"

"Chloe," Nate warned as he reached for the dagger. "Don't make me take it from you."

Chloe pulled away. "How am I supposed to explain where it's gone?"

Nate smirked. "You'll think of something. You always do." I didn't even try to hide my smug grin. He grabbed her arm intending to take the dagger from her.

"Just…" She paused, seeming to realize there was no arguing with him. She lowered her gaze. "Just do one thing for me." I raised a brow. That was kind of bold for all the trouble she's caused us. Nate cocked his head slightly. Chloe took a breath. "Take that son-of-a-bitch down." She let go of the dagger and walked out the room.

"What does she think we've been trying to do?" I questioned rhetorically. Nate shrugged.

Nate gazed around the room. "All right… what are we looking for?" I wandered toward one of the walls. There was a large carving of a tiger. Glancing around, I found similar carvings of other animals on the other walls. "Alex, c'mere." I went over to where Nate was standing in front of four different shapes on the floor.

"Do you have anything in your journal?" I asked. Nate pulled out his journal and flipped through the pages.

"Looks like each animal corresponds to a particular shape."

I took the journal from him. "Okay, I'll tell you which shape goes with which animal and you can move these things."

"Why do I have to move them?" Nate whined.

"Because you're the big strong man," I teased with a pat to his arm.

"What happened to me still healing?"

"You seemed to be doing fine at the moment. Now quit your whining and grab a shape." He huffed, but picked up one of the shapes, grumbling something about Sully not being there when we need him. I directed him and he finally placed the last shape.

"All right, that should do it!" Nate cheered. His smile fell, however, when a section of wall under each carving slid open, revealing a revolving cylinder. He groaned in frustration. I once again directed him to which symbol belonged to which animal. When the last cylinder was in place, a small circular platform rose out of the ground in the middle of the room.

"Three-sided," I noted.

"Just like the dagger." Nate placed the dagger in the hole and turned it. Small ledges jutted out of the wall nearby and a doorway leading back outside slid open.

"More climbing," I muttered. Reaching the rooftop, we scanned the area.

Nate suddenly laughed. "Gotcha." He pulled out his binoculars. "There's our secret entrance." He passed the binoculars to me and pointed to a small platform partially buried in the snow below some statues. He quickly relayed the information to Elena who agreed to meet us. Using a zipline, we slid down to the next building. We crouched low on a rooftop. We could see several soldiers pulling on ropes attached to one of the statues.

"Elena, you there?"

" _Yeah… I'm over here, I can see you._ " A hand waved from behind a crate several yards away.

"What the hell are those guys doing?"

" _Looks like they're pulling the statues down trying to find that secret entrance,_ " Elena answered. As if to emphasize her point, the statue the ropes were attached to came toppling down.

I shook my head. "Those morons are sitting right on top of it."

Nate turned to me. "You ready?"

I nodded. "Let's do this."

I shot the last of the soldiers and returned my pistol to its holster. "I sure hope that didn't alert anyone."

"Wait, so… where's the secret entrance?" Elena asked as we regrouped. Nate led us to the buried platform.

"It's right here. This is it." He inserted the Phurba into the triangular hole and the platform rose, four wooden bars sliding out. He let out a triumphant laugh. "I knew it. Here, help me push." Elena, Nate, and I each grabbed a bar and started pushing.

"Put your back into it," Elena grunted teasingly.

"Nag, nag, nag," Nate quipped. A few turns later seemed to do the trick. Water began pouring down from above one of the few untouched statues. We rushed to the edge of the cliff and in a courtyard below sat a staircase with a tree on top. The staircase slid down, revealing a hidden underground passage. Elena gasped and I grinned. "Well, wouldya look at that, hidden right in plain sight."

"Come on! This way!" Elena said, hurrying over to another zipline.

I chuckled. "I think she's almost worse than me."

"Nobody's worse than you," Nate teased.

"Hey! Watch it Drake, I can make your life a living hell," I threatened.

"How is that different than any other day?" I nudged him in the ribs, causing him to chuckle. The two of us quickly followed after Elena. As we slid down, there were several soldiers involved in a gunfight with some more demon sasquatches. The creatures easily overwhelmed the soldiers and thankfully climbed out of sight as we landed. "How many more of those things are there?"

"I don't know, but I hope we don't have to find out," Nate answered. We approached the hidden passage in the courtyard. There were bodies littered all around, a combination from the sasquatches and when Nate and I passed through earlier. We hurried down the stairs to a large, heavy door. "Alex, come help me with this." The two of us grunted with the effort and opened the doors. In the center of the room we had just entered sat a large blue orb illuminated by a light from the ceiling. "Here it is. The secret entrance to Shambhala," Nate announced. I looked around the room, seeing nothing but the blue orb.

"Nate?" Elena asked.

"Yeah."

"Don't see it."

Nate sighed. "Neither do I."

I scratched the back of my head in frustration. "I'm getting so tired of this! We must be missing something."

"If I have to climb another wall…" Elena groaned.

I smiled lightly. "You and me both."

"Just look around. There has to be something," Nate said. I wandered around the room, scanning for anything that might indicate a secret entrance. I noticed several Phurba daggers on the wall, but there was something weird about them. They weren't all facing the same direction. I went to the two that were upside down and turned them so they were right side up. The hands holding the orb raised it off the basin it rested in. Nate beamed at me.

"You did it!"

I smiled. "If there is anything I have learned in all our years of treasure hunting, it's 'press' or in this case 'turn everything'." We approached the blue orb and Nate reached into his pocket, but was distracted by voices outside. Nate cursed and pulled his gun. I followed suit and I stood beside him by the door.

"Now what do we do?" Elena asked, pulling her own gun.

"Just stay behind me," he told her. A single soldier ran in and Nate grabbed him, holding his gun to the soldier's head. "Drop the gun! Do it!" The soldier complied. More soldiers ran in and we backed up as they aimed their weapons at us. "Stay back!" The soldiers moved aside as Lazarevic entered the room. Nate wasn't the only one to curse this time.

"I should have killed you myself when I had the chance," Lazarevic snarled. "Not a mistake I will make twice." He pointed his gun at Nate to which I retaliated by pointing mine at him.

"Take one more step and I'll decorate the wall with the insides of your head," I growled dangerously.

"Oh, pull the trigger, little one, see how long you live," Lazarevic taunted, unfazed by my threat. I adjusted my grip, but didn't shoot, knowing full well he was right. We would barely last five seconds if I killed Lazarevic now. "Now - you will open the passage to Shambhala."

"Go to hell," Nate snapped. Lazarevic seemed more amused than angry at this response.

"Are you a student of history, Mr. Drake?" Nate and I shared a glance, both of us confused by the question.

"I've read a book or two."

Lazarevic hummed. "Genghis Khan, Hilter, Stalin, Pol Pot… They were all great men. But do you know why they prevailed?"

"I'm sure you're gonna tell us," Nate smarted off. I was really confused as to where this conversation was going.

"Because they had the will to do what other men would not." With that, Lazarevic shot the soldier Nate was still holding at gunpoint. I stared at the now dead soldier and readjusted my grip, glaring darkly at the insane man. "Compassion is the enemy. Mercy defeats us. Now, unless you wish to test me still further, you will drop your weapons!" He walked closer to Nate, gun right in his face. Nate hesitated, then lowered his gun.

"Do it," Nate told Elena and I. Seeing as my best friend was no longer a threat, Lazarevic switched his gun to Elena, who also reluctantly lowered her gun. I, however, stood firm. My hands shook ever so slightly in anger. I clenched my jaw so tightly I was afraid I was going to break a tooth. Lazarevic chuckled darkly.

"Go ahead, little one, no mercy," he taunted. My pointer finger twitched, ready to pull the trigger, to make him pay for threatening me and my friends, for attacking the Tibetan village and killing Schäfer and countless other innocent people. This man was a monster and the world would be better off without him, even if it meant I would die in the process. I was ready, until a quiet voice pulled me from my blood lust.

"Alex, per favore, non farlo." (Alex, please, don't.) I looked to Nate. The fire in my eyes died as I saw his expression. He gazed at me pleadingly, silently begging me to just comply, even though I didn't like it. "Alex," he repeated, his voice so soft it was a wonder I could even hear it. I stared into his baby blue eyes and I saw the fear in them. My resolve crumbled. I slowly lowered my arm, my gun hitting the ground with a thud. Nate gave me an almost imperceptible nod, his shoulders relaxing ever so slightly in relief.

Lazarevic scoffed. "As I said, compassion is the enemy. Now, kick them away." We did as we were told. If looks could kill Lazarevic would have been dead three times over with the glare I was giving him. "So, you have tested my will. Now it is my turn to test yours."

"Killing us won't get you anywhere," Elena growled.

"Killing them, yes, though I only need one of them," Lazarevic said. He pointed his gun at Elena again. "But you…"

"You hurt either of them, you'll get nothing from me," Nate warned, stepping in front of Elena before I could make a move.

"Well then it appears we are at a stalemate. Unless, I add another pawn to the board. Bring her in!" Flynn walked in with Chloe in tow. I snarled. Looks like this was one she wasn't able to talk herself out of. Nate cursed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Lazarevic tried to grab Chloe's arm, but she yanked away.

"Get your hands off me," she snapped as she stood next to me.

"Now, two we will use a lesson. And the other we will use as incentive to cooperate. You choose."

"This is bullshit, Nate," Chloe said.

"Yeah, don't play into his game," Elena agreed. I wanted to agree, so bad. But as much as I hated to admit it, the only way we stood a chance of getting out of this alive was to play his game.

"You want my help, you let them go," Nate demanded.

"This is not a negotiation!" Lazarevic shouted. "Who would you sacrifice? And who would you save? Want this one? You want to save this one? Or maybe this one? Hmm?" He moved his gun between us three women with each sentence. He stopped on me. "How about this one? This one is special to you, no?" I bared my teeth slightly. I was just about ready to jump the guy and take him out bare handed. Nate had finally had enough. He stalked forward and Lazarevic switched his aim to him once again.

"Y'know what, enough of this crap, all right, quit the theatrics. I'll do what you want." Nate walked over to the orb and reached into his pocket. Instantly, all the soldiers aimed their guns at him. He rolled his eyes. "Calm down." He waved the box of resin he had pulled out. He dropped the resin into the stone bowl under the orb and turned to Flynn. "You, asswipe - gimme your lighter." Flynn glanced at Lazarevic for permission then tossed his lighter to Nate. Nate lit the resin and enveloped the room in a blue glow. The flame illuminated a carving of a tree on the wall. Nate took the Phurba from his pocket and pushed it into the wall. With a crack, the wall slid into the ground, revealing a cavern with platforms all the way across. Lazarevic grinned as he stepped up to the edge. Before he could go any further, the platforms rotated, preventing him from crossing.

"What is this?" He snarled at Flynn.

Flynn shrugged helplessly. "How should I know?" I rolled my eyes. It was a wonder he got as far as he did.

"Find a way across and fix it! And take him with you." Lazarevic gestured to Nate. "Maybe this time it will get done right." Flynn shoved Nate forward. "Oh, and Mr. Drake -" Nate glanced back. "Don't try anything clever." Nate's eyes shifted to us three women, lingering longest on me. I gave him a miniscule nod, fire still dancing in my eyes. He stared at me a moment longer until Flynn shoved him. The two disappeared over the edge of the cliff.

The atmosphere was tense as we stood around waiting for Nate to find a way to turn the platforms, cause let's face it, Flynn was useless. Lazarevic paced back and forth, clearly impatient. Finally after what felt like forever, the sound of water could be heard throughout the cavern and the platforms returned to their original positions.

"Let's move!" Lazarevic ordered. Chloe, Elena, and I were shoved forward by the soldiers. I shot them a glare, but started walking, not willing to test Lazarevic any further at the moment. My head shot up at the sound of gunshots. I exchanged worried glances with Elena and Chloe. Lazarevic got to the next room before us and I heard him fire his shotgun. By the time the three of us got there with our guards, Nate was being held by two more soldiers. I breathed a sigh of relief at seeing him alive. I glanced to the side and noticed a dead demon sasquatch. So that's what all the shooting had been about. I noticed at first with disgust the creature's head sitting off to the side, but something was strange about it. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was only a mask. The whole thing was just a suit for a semi normal looking man. I frowned. What were these things?

"I've done what you asked. Let them go," Nate demanded.

Lazarevic chuckled humorlessly, amused by Nate's attempts. "Always bargaining… But you have played your last hand, and lost." My heart dropped into my stomach.

"Looks like it's the end of the road, mate," Flynn said gleefully, pointing his gun at Nate.

Lazarevic held up a hand. "No, no, no, not yet. I want him to see Shambhala and die knowing that I have taken it from him. Open the gate!" Two soldiers turned the wheel mechanisms on either side of the gate. The group approached the door as it slowly opened, Lazarevic at the head. I squinted at the sunlight as it streamed through, then practically had to pick my jaw up off the ground at the sight before us. Stretching out nearly as far as I could see, was a huge city. It was beautiful! There were buildings of various sizes and the architecture was amazing! I looked to Nate who mirrored my look of awe. We had finally made it. "Now… You two have been a thorn in my side for far too long," Lazarevic growled, turning from the gorgeous sight. He took his gun out. "On your knees." When we didn't obey, the soldiers moved to make us.

"Hey, hey, uh - Zoran, we had a deal," Flynn cut in quickly.

"I do not suffer traitors."

"Oh, right, so I suppose you know exactly how to find the Stone, then… won't be needing me…" Flynn smirked knowingly. Cocky bastardo. Lazarevic held his gun to Chloe's head and for a moment, I thought he was actually going to shoot her. He shoved her towards Flynn who wrapped his arm around her with a smug 'thanks'.

"On your knees!" Lazarevic shouted. The soldiers grabbed Nate, Elena, and I. However, I decided I wasn't going down without a fight. As soon as I felt the soldier's hand touch my shoulder, I grabbed it and bent his wrist back to an unnatural angle, bringing the soldier to his knees with a howl of pain. I then twisted, sending him to the ground and setting my knee on his throat. Next to me, Nate and Elena had also sprung into action and were struggling with their own guards. Suddenly, an arrow came out of nowhere and embedded itself into the back of Nate's guard. The man collapsed and Nate stood in shock. "What is this?" Lazarevic turned around to see where the arrow came from. Three weird purple creatures in armor appeared above us. They growled and fired arrows from their crossbows. "Fire, you fools!" Another soldier got hit in the head with an arrow. With the soldiers distracted, Elena punched her guard and Chloe elbowed Flynn and the four of us ran off deeper into the city. As we ran, we were fired on by a combination of soldiers and the purple guardians. We jumped onto a broken bridge and I nearly collided with Nate as he slid to a stop to avoid gunfire in front of him. We turned as several soldiers jumped onto the bridge behind us. My eyes widened as I spotted another soldier with a rocket launcher. Just as he fired, however, a guardian pounced, causing the rocket to hit one of the bridge support beams. I let out a string of Italian curses as the bridge collapsed and began sliding down the hill, straight towards a stone wall.

"We're gonna crash!" Elena cried.

"Hold on!" Nate shouted.


	13. Let's Save the World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter folks! We're almost done! The third book is still underway. I had to replay Drake's Decpetion the other day just for old time's sake. Hope ya'll have enjoyed this story. As per usual, read, anjoy, blah blah.

I groaned as I picked myself up and brushed the stone dust off me. Around me, the other three were doing the same, groaning in varying degrees of pain. I rubbed my neck and gave it a satisfying crack. I was going to be feeling that tomorrow. I made the mistake of looking up and saw a soldier impaled on a tree branch. I made a disgusted noise, alerting the other three who had similar reactions.

"Okay… We need to get the hell out of here - now," Chloe said firmly.

"I couldn't sleep for days after I saw that last time," Elena muttered.

"Unfortunately, it seems to come with the territory," I added.

"All right, let's go!" Nate urged. He jumped from the broken bridge to another platform. "Come on, no time to sightsee. Let's keep moving."

Chloe nudged Elena. "Watch this Elena, he'll probably break something."

"Himself or the ruins?" I asked. "Because knowing him, both are equally possible."

"You're no better, if I recall," Chloe responded. "I seem to remember Nate mentioning you breaking your ankle once on a job in Brazil."

My cheeks reddened slightly at the memory. "I misjudged a jump. And moss really shouldn't be allowed to grow on ledges where people might try to climb."

"I don't think that's how it works, Alex," Elena said, amusement clear in her voice. I shrugged and followed after my best friend. We climbed through the city until we reached a small courtyard and it appeared as though we weren't the first ones there. Several corpses laid around the area. Bodies that appeared to have been there for quite some time.

"Huh… Looks like someone else made it in here before us," Chloe commented.

"Let's hope we have better luck making it out," Elena said. Nate, Elena, and I stripped of our winter coats, no longer needed in the warmer climate of Shambhala. I approached one of the bodies and searched him, turning up a pistol. Chloe found another gun on a second body and passed it to Elena.

"Well, Lazarevic and his crew would have headed into the city. So, if we can just make it back to the entrance, it should be clear by now," Chloe announced. One shared look with Nate and I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was.

"I don't know about you, Chloe, but we're going after the Stone," I told her.

Chloe's eyes widened. "What?"

"We have to stop Lazarevic," Elena agreed without hesitation. I felt a surge of pride. Always ready to jump in and do what she felt was right.

Chloe rounded on the journalist. "And how exactly do you plan on doing that?"

"Get to the Stone first, before he does, and destroy it," Nate said simply.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute - don't tell you're buying into all that supernatural nonsense," Chloe scoffed.

Nate held up his hands helplessly. "I don't know what to believe anymore."

"Okay - well just in case you missed it, that man is certifiable," Chloe exclaimed. I wandered over to another corpse and knelt next to it. Seeing as the corpse didn't need it anymore, I took the AK-47 he had been holding. "He thinks he's fulfilling some sort of prophecy - that the Stone will somehow make him invincible." I noticed a second AK-47 nearby and picked it up, passing it to Nate. Seeing as neither of us were paying much attention, Chloe turned to Elena. "Immortal."

"We're standing in the middle of Shambhala and you're questioning what's possible?" Elena pointed out.

"And supernatural or not, those creatures are not normal," I added.

Nate nodded in agreement. "Something strange is going on here."

"All the more reason why we should get out while we still can," Chloe insisted.

Nate sighed in frustration. "I'm just trying to set things right."

"And maybe save the world?" Elene added.

"Oh God," Chloe huffed a laugh and walked over to Elena. "Listen, sunshine - the world… doesn't care." Elena scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You stick your neck out, you are asking to lose your head."

"You're right, the world doesn't care," I admitted. "But you know what, neither do I. I'm not doing this because I expect a reward, a prize, or even a simple 'thank you'. I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do. This whole journey may have started out as a run of the mill treasure hunt, but we messed up and now we're on a quest to set it right. And you can scoff all you like, but you said yourself you wanted to take this guy down."

"Yes, and I want to see him pay more than you do," Chloe said. "But that's not how it will end." She motioned to the bodies lying around us. "This… This is how it will end."

Nate shook his head. "No… Not this time."

"C'mon… Whaddya say?" Elena inquired.

"That you're crazy," Chloe stated. Nate smiled, not denying the fact.

"Certifiable," I declared with a grin.

Chloe sighed like an exasperated mother. "Let's go save your bloody world." We didn't get a chance to go but a few steps when more guardians showed up. The four of us took cover.

"Stay back, don't let them near you!" Nate warned, firing several rounds with his AK-47.

"No, I just thought I'd walk on over and invite them to lunch!" I shot back.

"Alex!" I ducked as a crossbolt flew over my head. That was too close for comfort. We pumped round after round of lead into the guardians. It took too long and too many bullets, but they finally went down.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I came out from behind my pillar. "We should probably -" I was cut off by a loud growl as yet another guard appeared, this time with some kind of slingshot. The guardian swung his slingshot towards me and I had to tuck and roll to get out of the way fast enough. Whatever the guardian had thrown, exploded behind me in a blue flame.

"Oh crap, those things blow up!" Nate cried.

"Chloe, move!" I shouted. The Britt, who had been taking cover behind a pillar did as told and the blue explosive landed right where she had been. We continued shooting at the guardian, but the thing was surprisingly quick for being so large. The four of us had to be constantly on the move just to keep from being blown up. I dodged another explosion and not paying attention to where I was going, tripped over something. Looking back, I realized it was the crossbow one of the other guardians we had killed dropped. I quickly picked it up and loaded it. I carefully aimed for the remaining guardian, knowing I only had one shot at this. I pulled the trigger. The crossbolt sailed through the air and hit its mark. The guardian collapsed, dead with an arrow buried in the middle of its forehead. I stared down at the crossbow in my hand. "I'm keeping this," I decided and slung it over my back with my AK-47.

"Well, that was an adventure," Chloe commented.

"Everyone all right?" Nate asked. Us three girls nodded.

"We should get moving," Elena suggested. We climbed up to the opening the guardians had come through. Moving up a set of stairs we found our path blocked by some tree roots.

"Well that just blows," I grumbled.

"There has to be a way through," Nate insisted. I noticed some strange blue sap near the top of the root system and nudged Nate.

"That looks familiar, doesn't it?"

Nate nodded. "Looks like the resin. That stuff is flammable - stand back!" He pulled out his gun and shot the blue sap. The sap burst into flame and the roots shrank away from the opening.

"Whoa!... What the hell?" Chloe exclaimed.

"Oh my God - what is that?!" Elena demanded.

I chuckled to myself. "I guess it really does blow."

"What's your favorite line from that myth show you like?" Nate asked as we walked through the new opening.

"It's called Mythbusters and 'when in doubt, C4'."

Nate hummed in acknowledgement. "When you don't know what to do, blow something up. Story of our lives." I chuckled again. We continued through the ruins, shooting several other sap patches to clear the way of roots. We jogged up a set of stairs and came upon a large clearing. In the distance, just visible above the ruins was a huge temple. "That must be where the Cintamani Stone is."

"It's all so beautiful," Elena murmured as we dropped down from the ledge we stood on.

"This place really must have been something back in the day," Nate agreed.

"It's kinda quiet," Chloe commented.

Nate glanced around at the ruins. "Does feel kinda haunted, doesn't it?"

I shivered and rubbed my arms self consciously. "Did you have to say that? I don't have any salt with me. I ought to keep some shotgun shells filled with rock salt on me cause I feel it would be just our luck to delve into some ruins haunted by a vengeful spirit."

"I seriously don't understand how salt is supposed to help against ghosts."

"Me either," I replied. "But it works for the Winchesters and that's good enough for me." Nate rolled his eyes and mumbled something about me and my obsessions. We approached a large gate near the back of the open area. Nate tried turning one of the wheels to open it. I heard some voices and poked my head around the wall we were hidden behind.

"Damn it, it's stuck!" Nate announced. "The other counterweight is missing."

"We'll have to worry about that later," I said. The other three turned to me with questioning looks. "We've got company." Several of Lazarevic's soldiers had arrived.

"Told you. Was too damn quiet," Chloe cursed. We hurriedly took out the soldiers and went back to the gate.

"That gate won't open without the other counterweight," Nate said, hands on his hips.

I cocked my head, considering the remaining counterweight. "You look about the right size." Chloe and Elena laughed while Nate rolled his eyes.

"Ha ha - funny." Nate jumped and leveled a halfhearted glare my way when I lightly slapped his backside.

"Get going, counterweight." My best friend merely shook his head and climbed up the wall, shimmying his way onto the other chain.

"All right, I'm on it!"

"Here we go…" Chloe turned the wheel and this time, the gate opened properly.

"Alex, help me with this," Elena said. I hurried over to help her push a stone statue under the gate. With the statue holding the gate open, Elena and I ran under it, followed by Chloe, Nate sliding under just as the gate crushed the statue.

"You were cutting that a little fine…" Chloe commented. We continued trudging through the ruins, meeting several groups of soldiers along the way which we quickly disposed of. After what seemed like forever and a rainstorm later, we arrived at the temple where the Cintamani Stone was hopefully housed. Course with our luck, we'd have to solve another puzzle or something. As soon as we entered the temple we were immediately greeted by the sound of gunfire. I would've rather solved another puzzle. Nate quickly warned us to get down. In the hall below, soldiers were involved in a gunfight with the temple guardians.

"Maybe they'll just kill each other," I said hopefully. That hope didn't last long as we were spotted. I growled in disappointment and frustration and slung my new crossbow off my back.

"Anyone else?" I asked rhetorically, looking around at all the dead soldiers and guardians. Not surprisingly, no response. I shoved my gun back into its holster, having quickly run out of crossbolts. "That's what I thought."

"The Stone's gotta be here somewhere. Let's try heading up," Nate suggested. Us three girls followed him up a flight of stairs. And another flight. And another.

"Would it have killed them...to have installed...an elevator...or something," I grumbled breathlessly. After way too many sets of stairs, we finally reached a huge room and in the middle sat a transparent blue orb in the middle of a tree trunk.

"There it is - the Cintamani Stone," Elena said in awe.

"I can't believe we beat them here," Chloe said in disbelief.

"It's beautiful…" Elena was right, it was pretty, but something seemed off. It didn't look right for a sapphire. I glanced at Nate and could tell he was thinking the same thing.

"Yeah, magnificent." Chloe didn't sound as thrilled to have found the Stone. She picked up a pole laying nearby. "Now let's smash it and get the hell out of here."

Nate held up a hand to stop her. "Wait - something's not right..." He approached the tree and the three of us followed.

"What do you mean?" Elena asked. I tapped the side of the 'sapphire' with my knuckle.

"Marco Polo had it wrong…" Nate announced, confirming my suspicions. "This isn't a sapphire."

I sighed heavily and lowered my head. "It's amber." We came all this way for a giant ball of fossilized resin. Pretty, but not valuable. There wasn't even a fossilized mosquito to make a dino theme park out of.

Chloe raised a brow. "Amber."

"Yeah, y'know - fossilized resin. It's tree sap," Nate explained. I looked over to a carving on the wall; a large tree with a blue orb on the center of the trunk. I recalled the carving of the tree in the temple back in Nepal. My eyes widened as a realization came to me.

"Dio mio," I whispered.

Nate glanced at me. "What?" I didn't answer, but I didn't have to. He understood well enough when he followed my gaze to the carving. We shared a worried look. "No…"

"Hello - Nate? Alex?" Chloe said, hoping to get some sort of explanation. We both ignored her and rushed over to the temple exit. I heard Elena mutter something about her hating when we do this and Chloe agreeing.

"How could I have missed it?" Nate scolded himself.

"Missed what?" Elena inquired, desperate for information.

"There's no Stone, never has been," I explained in a rush. "It's the resin. It's all about the sap - from the Tree of Life."

Chloe shook her head. "Okay - hold on - now you've lost me… this tree?" She gestured to the one that held the supposed Stone.

"No…" Nate pointed to a huge tree at the bottom of the temple steps. "That tree."

"There he is - Lazarevic," Elena said. Nate pulled out his binoculars. I could just barely make out Lazarevic and some of his men descending the stairs into most likely a chamber below the temple.

"He's headed to the Tree."

"Dio mio - the black teeth!" I exclaimed suddenly.

Nate's eyes widened as he remembered. "Oh my God."

Elena frowned in confusion. "What?"

"The black teeth on the Guardian things and the skeletons in Borneo," I told her. "They must have eaten the resin."

"And it changed them somehow," Nate finished.

Chloe was still skeptical. "And you think that's what Lazarevic is planning to do?"

"You really wanna wait around and find out?"

"Bravo, Sherlock…" A smooth British accent spoke. We all spun around, guns ready. Flynn was leaning against a pillar. My mouth dropped open in shock. He looked a mess! He was covered in blood and his arm was wrapped around his middle. "Well done."

"Flynn…"

"Oh, Harry…" Chloe lamented.

"What s'matter, mate? Disappointed Lazarevic beat you to it?" Flynn inquired sarcastically. He slumped to the floor, breathing heavily, face contorted in pain. I held back my biting reply. Sure, I had wanted to get back at Flynn, but not like this. "I'm afraid you just missed him. I figured I'd stay behind and wait for you to come join my little party."

Nate frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Maybe that's what old Zoran wanted all along, eh? He's cleverer than he looks." I put my gun away. He didn't look like he was going to be mounting an attack anytime soon.

"I did warn you," I reminded him solemnly. "You were only a stepping stone to a monster like Lazarevic. Soon as you no longer served a purpose, well..." I nodded to his condition.

"We can still stop him -" Elena said, moving forward. Flynn merely laughed.

"Elena don't -" Nate warned.

"No, we can help you," Elena insisted.

"Sorry, love. This isn't a movie, and you're not the plucky girl who reforms the villain and saves the day. It's just not done like that," Flynn told her. There was a certain edge to his voice. I carefully stepped forward and took her arm, intending to pull her back.

"Flynn, listen to me. You -" Nate cut himself off as Flynn held up a grenade.

"Parting gift from Lazarevic. Pity he took the pin." Flynn dropped the grenade and pin to the floor. I only had a second. In one fluid motion, I tugged Elena back and stepped around her, shielding her with my own body just as the grenade exploded. We were all blown back and my world exploded in pain.


End file.
